Brother Against Sister
by CartsBeforeHorses
Summary: Pound and Pumpkin Cake are on different sides of an Equestrian civil war.
1. The Battle of Ponyville

**CANTERLOT, THE SECOND KINGDOM**

_February 2020, seven years after Twilight Sparkle's princess coronation_

King Blueblood sat at the head of a round table in a conference room in Canterlot, the Second Kingdom's capital.

"Flim and Flam," he addressed the two stallions, who glanced up at him. "Status report on the economy?"

"You first, Flim," said economic minister Flam, pointing to his brother.

"Er…" his brother and economic co-minister Flim started. He glanced down at the floor and muttered, "I am sorry to report that manufacturing, agriculture, and the service sector are all down this quarter, your highness."

"What?" Blueblood demanded, gritting his teeth and scowling. "Did you not take the corrective actions I told you to?"

"We certainly did, King Blueblood, but we still face severe labor shortages. Kicking out the earth ponies and pegasi from the Second Kingdom has led to our economy shrinking. As for agriculture, the food shortages and famines remain. We have plenty of arable land up north as per our independence treaty with Equestria, but we have no earth ponies to farm it. I guess it's a drawback of a unicorn-only kingdom-"

"There is no drawback to not having those inferior leeches around," Blueblood scoffed. "We shall find a suitable replacement for them, just as we replaced the pegasi and now manage our weather with magic and planes. We won't be dependent upon Equestria or earth ponies for food. We will preserve our economic and trade independence as a race and nation."

He slammed his hoof onto the table to accentuate his last point.

Flam said, "By using our mechanical tractors and harvesters, which allow one pony to do the work of hundreds, we can conceivably produce enough crops to feed all of the Second Kingdom with relatively few workers… but that's only if we have the unicorns to operate them."

"Yes," Trixie Lulamoon added. "Unfortunately, the only way that a unicorn can produce any crops is if they have earth pony blood, by having one or more earth pony parents. As the minister of racial and magical purity, I haven't yet come up with another alternative in my research. Farming requires a sort of magic which only earth ponies or their immediate offspring have."

"We started a public information campaign calling for unicorns born of earth ponies to do their racial duty and become farmers. It has only been partially successful," said propaganda minister Fancy Pants. "Canterlot has always been an insular city, populated by nobles and gentry. The unicorn families of nobility have historically kept to themselves, and the earth pony families of nobility kept to themselves as well. Even the lower social classes rarely engaged in miscegeny. Of the Second Kingdom's population, I'd guess that earth-born unicorns must be under five percent. Most of them have other jobs that they've done all of their lives, and aren't willing to drop everything to start farming, racial duty or not. Only a few hundred of them have."

"We shall force them to, then," said Blueblood. "If the market cannot correct itself, we must seize control and correct the market, just as we did with the banks, the hospitals, and the oil fields. Check all birth records and begin rounding up earth-born unicorns."

"We still won't solve the food shortage," said Flam. "We'd need thousands more unicorn farmers beyond that. There simply aren't enough unicorns born of earth ponies in the Second Kingdom to feed everypony."

"Then where shall we get them?" asked Blueblood.

"As I understand, Ponyville has quite a few," said General Top Brass, a grey-coated unicorn stallion. He had been a former royal guard sergeant under Princess Celestia, but had defected when the Second Kingdom seceded. He now served as commander of the Second Kingdom's armed forces.

"Indeed. The unicorns in Ponyville often chose to mingle with the lesser races," said Trixie.

"Then an invasion of Ponyville is in order," said Blueblood. "A war will have the added benefit of boosting our manufacturing output. A few years ago, we defeated the Equestrian forces at the Canterlot barracks battle with Celestia's loyalists, thereby winning our independence. I doubt the Equestrians will pose much of a problem now, either. General Top Brass, prepare our armed forces for battle and mass on the Equestrian border near Ponyville."

"You can't be serious," said Fancy Pants, his jaw dropping. "A war with Equestria would be disastrous. Their army is five times the size of ours. We should simply continue our current policy of trading with them for food-"

Blueblood glared at Fancy Pants. "I didn't start this kingdom to be dependent upon lesser races of ponies, Fancy Pants. They may have more ponies in their army, but we have unicorns and magic. General Top Brass, you have your orders. Flim and Flam, begin coordination with the factories to produce war planes and firearms. Trixie, once the invasion commences, you are to find all unicorns in Ponyville born to earth pony parents and round them up. Fancy Pants, begin spreading wartime propaganda and printing relevant posters. We shall invade within the month!"

* * *

The thunderous, repeating sound of a thousand hoofsteps stomping in unison reverberated off of the dirt road. The army marched down the mountains, outside the city limits of Canterlot, and into the foothills below. Their movements scattered dust all around, dust which was blown away by the wind.

As they walked, unicorns living in nearby houses ran out to the road to cheer on the army. The unicorn soldiers kept their stony gazes despite the fanfare, staring straight ahead and levitating their assault rifles in front of them. The barrels and bayonets of the rifles glinted in the morning sun. After another half an hour, the marching unicorns reached the fence indicating the border with Equestria.

"Company, halt!"

The hoofsteps were replaced with silence as General Top Brass ordered the gatekeeper to open the gate. The hinges creaked as the gate swung open.

"Forward march!"

With that, the unicorn army continued along the path. The invasion had begun.

* * *

That morning in the Ponyville town library, Princess Twilight and Spike stood in the lobby. Twilight levitated two packed saddlebags towards the door, then turned to her assistant.

"Spike, take a letter," she said. "Dear Princess Luna. I've just finished up my vacation to Ponyville. I had a great time visiting with my friends and relaxing. I will be returning to Manehattan later this evening to continue with my royal duties. Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle." Twilight would have written her letter to Princess Celestia, but she had passed away a few years prior.

Spike finished jotting down the letter. "Done!" he announced, and then he breathed green dragon fire on it, sending it off to Luna in Manehattan. Manehattan had been Equestria's new capital ever since the Second Kingdom had seceded.

"Good," said Twilight, "Now, let's go off to Manehattan. We have a five hour long journey ahead of us."

"Aw, can't we stay in Ponyville a bit longer? I haven't even gotten to catch up with Zecora yet!"

"Sorry, Spike, but I have urgent royal duties."

Twilight Sparkle loaded the saddlebags on her back as she and Spike walked out the library's front door. The library used to be their home, but now only was a place to stay during the rare occasions when they were in town visiting.

As they stepped outside, they could hear loud bangs off in the distance.

Spike's ears shot up. "What was that?"

"I don't know, Spike. Whatever it is, it can't be good. It sounds like gunfire. Stay in the library, lock the door, and close all the windows. I'll be right back."

Twilight Sparkle put her bags back inside the library, walked outside, and took off, her wings carrying her up in the air. When she was high enough to have a good view of Ponyville, her heart skipped a beat as she spotted the Second Kingdom army advancing from the east. She could see smoke and flashes rising from the battlefield as the unicorns engaged the Ponyville town guard. She saw bloodied bodies falling, mostly on the Ponyville side. At this rate, they would overrun Ponyville's guard in mere hours.

Her eyes widened as she descended to the earth and back towards the library. She opened the door and teleported across the room to where Spike sat. He jolted up.

"Spike, take a letter!"

"But I just did-"

"Now!"

Spike obliged and got out a quill and parchment.

"Dear Princess… Wait, never mind, skip the formality. Blueblood's forces are invading Ponyville. They're engaging the town

guard. Send reinforcements."

Spike madly scribbled the note, breathed fire on the parchment, and sent it.

He asked, "The Second Kingdom is invading? But I thought that Blueblood signed a peace treaty with Equestria and agreed not to attack if we gave them independence and gave them all that land up north. What happened?"

"I don't know, Spike. The mollification process was supposed to keep them peaceful by giving them what they wanted. But I guess now they want more. At any rate, we have to move quickly. They'll overrun the town in a matter of hours. We have to go to Cloudsdale and get some pegasi to help us. Air superiority is the only way Ponyville can last until Luna's army gets here. Come on. Let's go get Rainbow Dash."

Spike hopped on Twilight Sparkle's back as she flew to Rainbow Dash's house.

* * *

At Sugarcube Corner, Mr. Carrot Cake and Mrs. Cup Cake were busy baking pastries. Pinkie Pie was helping them knead dough. The nine-year-old Cake Twins sat in the living room, playing with interlocking plastic building blocks.

"I told you, Pumpkin Cake," said Pound Cake, "We need to name our brick town 'Poundville.' Because it's awesome, just like me!"

"I say we call it 'Brick Town,'" she retorted, "Because I built most of it, so I get to decide."

"I would have built more, but you kept complaining about me getting my slobber all over the bricks!"

"Because it's gross!" she scolded, levitating another block into place on her newest creation, a green and blue skyscraper.

"Yeah, well, sorry I can't build it with magic like you," he scoffed, "But I still think this town should be named-"

His words were cut off by the sound of a loud boom echoing through the street outside.

"What was that?" Pumpkin asked.

"Beats me," answered Pound.

They returned to their blocks for a moment until they heard their mother yelling, "Kids!"

"What is it?" they both called back in unison.

"Get in the cellar!"

The twins obliged, running out the back door and over to the side of the house where the cellar door was. As they ran, they saw ponies frantically running and screaming through the town, and they heard sporadic gunfire. Pumpkin flung open the cellar trapdoor with her magic, and they both jumped into the pitch-dark cellar.

"I'm scared, Pound!"

"So am I, but stay tough," he said.

After several more minutes, the door opened once more as Mr. and Mrs. Cake entered. Mr. Cake was carrying an old hunting rifle, and Mrs. Cake was carrying a basket full of pastries. Mr. Cake put the hunting rifle inside of an empty wooden barrel.

"Mom, Dad, what's going on? Where's Pinkie?" Pound asked.

Mrs. Cake said, "Pinkie's with her friends. Kids, listen carefully."

They both leaned in towards her.

She continued, "There's been an invasion. The Second Kingdom has launched a surprise attack on Ponyville, and there's a battle outside."

"Does this mean there'll be a war?" asked Pumpkin Cake.

"Yes."

"Aw, cool! It'll be just like in _Iron Mare Down_!" exclaimed Pound Cake.

"Son," Mr. Cake said, "War is nothing in real life like it is in the movies."

"What?" Pound asked his father.

"Movies only last an hour. Real wars can last for many years. In the movies, the good guys always win. But in real life, the bad guys can win, too."

"But how can evil win?" Pound asked.

Mrs. Cake answered, "Evil is sufficient unto the day."

"What does that mean?" the Cake twins both asked.

"It's an old saying, dearies. It means that sometimes, evil wins out over good, because even though good is powerful, every now and then, evil is just more powerful than good."

Mr. Cake added, "Now listen, kids. No matter what happens, we'll always love you."

They came together and huddled close in a group hug.

* * *

The next few hours seemed to drag on forever, as the Cake family sat in the dark cellar, waiting in anticipation. Every gunshot and explosion was a reminder that a battle raged on above them.

Finally, after a dinner of pastries, they went to sleep, as the gunfire and explosions had died down somewhat. None of them slept restfully at all; their dreams were interrupted by nightmares or the occasional bombshell going off.

The next day, they awoke to find that they couldn't hear gunfire anymore, save for one or two sporadic shots every hour or so.

"I think the battle's over, but it's impossible to tell who won," said Mrs. Cake.

"Maybe we should wait another few hours. I still hear gunfire," Mr. Cake advised.

Their conversation was interrupted by a banging at their cellar door.

"I wonder if it's Pinkie. I told her to come get us when the coast was clear," said Mrs. Cake.

A gruff voice yelled, "Open up!"

The Cake family froze in place. Suddenly, they heard a repeating, vigorous slamming. A few moments later, they heard the splintering of wood as they saw a light, the first light they had seen in a day. The Cakes winced, their eyes still used to the darkness.

"Hooves where I can see them! If you have a weapon, drop it on the ground!"

Mr. Cake did not move, gambling that they wouldn't search the cellar and find his hidden rifle.

The room suddenly lit up even more as three unicorn ponies entered, illuminating the room with light from their horns. They levitated assault rifles in front of them, pointing them towards the Cakes.

"Well, well, well… what do we have here?" a blue-coated mare spoke.

Though the twins were too young to know this mare, Mr. and Mrs. Cake recognized her.

Trixie Lulamoon looked at Pumpkin Cake and asked, "Tell me, young filly. Are these your parents?"

"Mm-hmm," Pumpkin mumbled, quivering and quaking as Trixie towered over her.

"A unicorn with earth pony parents? Why, that's the twentieth one in this town so far. We've hit the jackpot! Take her."

Pumpkin felt herself rise off the ground as one of the soldiers enveloped her in a field of green magic.

"AAH!" she screamed.

"Leave my sister alone!" yelled Pound Cake, and he flew up in the air. He began to charge towards the soldier until Mr. Cake bit on his tail, restraining him.

Trixie laughed and said, "And a pegasus brother? Oh, that's precious. Be thankful I'm in a good mood and don't have you shot for your insolence, colt."

She turned towards the two stallions, and they exited the cellar, slamming the trap door shut behind them.


	2. Brainwashed Destiny

Pumpkin Cake floated in the air for what seemed like an eternity as the unicorn soldier levitated her along through the town. Her pupils dilated, and her heart pounded as she wondered exactly where the soldiers were taking her.

She tried to struggle and break free of the soldier's magic, but he turned to her and warned, "If you even dare to run away, I'll go back there and kill your whole family!"

Pumpkin Cake got the message and didn't struggle. She floated in the air, feeling woozy and light-headed from fear, the levitation spell not helping with that.

She saw that most of the buildings in the town were still intact, with only a few having been damaged by mortar rounds or riddled with bullet holes. She breathed a sigh of relief.

_At least the town isn't destroyed,_ Pumpkin thought. It was some small comfort. She looked ahead as she saw that they were approaching the Apple Family's barn on the outskirts of town. She wondered what could be there which required her, but figured that she would know soon enough.

The soldier opened the barn door, walked in, and set Pumpkin Cake down, finally letting her walk on her own four hooves again.

"Stay here, and don't move."

He left the barn and walked away. Pumpkin glanced around the barn and discovered that she was not alone. There were two dozen other unicorn fillies and colts, most of whom were her age or younger, with a few a bit older. The oldest couldn't have been more than thirteen years old. However, it was hard to tell in the dimly lit barn. The only light came from the open door, from cracks between the wooden boards, or from the numerous bullet holes which now riddled the sides of the barn.

Pumpkin thought of the Apple Family. She had often come here on errands to pick up bushels of apples for baking pies. She hoped they were all still alive.

There was a single armed guard at the entrance of the barn, levitating an assault rifle in front of him.

"So, what's your name?" Pumpkin turned around and saw another filly who had walked up to her in the darkness.

"Pumpkin Cake. And you are..."

"Sunrise Spring."

"Nice to meet you," said Pumpkin Cake.

"What's your special talent?" asked Sunrise Spring.

"I don't have one; I'm a blank flank."

"Oh? How old are you, Pumpkin Cake?"

"Nine."

"I'm twelve. Nine years old and you still don't have your cutie mark? Must be a late bloomer. Not that your special talent matters that much now, though. I'm sure that these unicorns have other plans for us."

Pumpkin Cake gulped, and tried not to think about the soldiers. She had no idea what they could be planning, for she knew very little about the Second Kingdom.

Another group of about a dozen fillies and colts arrived.

Pumpkin wondered how in Equestria this was possibly happening. This whole idea of a war in Ponyville was absurd. She thought for a moment that she might be dreaming.

_That would be cool,_ she thought, _Because when I'm in a dream and know I'm dreaming, then I can do whatever I want. Hmm..._

She tried a variety of things, including attempting to fly around the room or summon an ice cream cone with thirty scoops of ice cream on it, but neither of these things worked.

So it wasn't a dream. Or maybe it was, but it was one of those incredibly vivid dreams where not even knowing it's a dream can make it any less real. But her question remained. Why was she here? What would happen to her?

She thought of what the other filly had said. _"Not that your special talent matters that much anymore. I'm sure that these unicorns have other plans for us."_

Right now, her biggest question was if she would survive. Only a day ago, her biggest question had been what her special talent would ultimately end up being.

"_Okay class, today we're going to learn about cutie marks," said Ms. Cheerilee, "Now, how many of you in here have your cutie marks?"_

_All fifteen hooves in the room shot up, with the exception of Pound Cake, Pumpkin Cake, and one other colt._

"_Wow, that many of you? Maybe I should start teaching the cutie mark lesson a little earlier!" Ms. Cheerilee chuckled. Nopony else in the room laughed._

Come to think of it, Pumpkin wondered why that lesson was taught in third grade. Seemed more like kindergarten level to her.

_Cheerilee said, "Anyway, as you all probably already know, a cutie mark is a mark of your special talent, something that you're really good at. Something that is meant to be your destiny in life. When you discover what your special talent is, then you will have a cutie mark appear on your flank. Pretty simple, right? Mine is three flowers, which represent teaching, because you're all my little blossoms!"_

_Cheerilee smiled, and continued, "And don't worry, even if you don't have your cutie mark yet, it's sure to show up in time. Just be patient, and it will come."_

Pumpkin Cake wondered what her teacher was doing right now. She was probably hiding under a desk, or dead.

_The bell rang and the students filed out of the schoolhouse to go home for the day._

"_Why don't we have our cutie marks yet, Pound? What do you think they'll be?"_

"_I don't know, sis. But hey, it's like Ms. Cheerilee said. It's gotta show up eventually! I'll bet mine will be a pair of jetwings, since I can fly so fast! I can't wait!" Pound exclaimed, soaring around outside the schoolhouse._

_Pumpkin Cake, not willing to take 'eventually' as an answer like her brother, decided to talk to her parents._

"_Well, Pumpkin, it's like we've always told you and Pound. You two can take over the family business when we're too old to work," said Mrs. Cake._

"_But I don't like baking," she replied, "I've tried it before with you guys, but it's just kind of boring sitting there waiting for the food to bake in the oven. It's not my special talent, and it's not my destiny."_

"_Then you and Pound can sell the business and use the money to go to college," said Mr. Cake, "And do something that__is__your special talent. Be a great doctor, pilot, or lawyer. And don't worry. Your mother didn't get her mark until she was nine, just like you. I didn't get my cutie mark until I was eleven! I'm sure that by the time you're eleven, you'll have your mark. And when that day comes, I'll just say 'I told you so!'"_

"When that day comes." Would it? Would she ever see her parents or Pound again? Would they be shot anyway, even if she didn't try to escape?

Pumpkin Cake recalled an earth pony colt who was in the fifth grade who had once lived in Canterlot. He had told her about the shining white domes of the buildings, the streets paved with cobblestone, and the beautiful view of all of Equestria from the mountainside. He had told her a joke about how it seemed like everypony wore top hats in Canterlot, even the ones who weren't rich, just so they could fit in with the ones who _were _rich.

But then, Prince Blueblood became king. At first, things weren't so bad. The economy grew, at first. The colt's parents, both factory owners, had made a lot of money after Blueblood had repealed some unpopular taxes. But then, three years later, they had to pack up all of their things and move to Ponyville. Apparently, Blueblood didn't like earth ponies living anywhere on Second Kingdom soil. But now that Second Kingdom soil included Ponyville as well…

Pumpkin tried not to think about it. She was not about to start crying around all these other fillies and colts, only one or two of whom were also crying.

"_You know, Pumpkin dearie, you can always go and see Princess Twilight about it," said Mrs. Cake, "She's in town visiting from Manehattan, and she's staying at the library. She might be busy, but I'm sure she could find time to help you while she's here."_

"_Yes," Mr. Cake added, "Princess Twilight is very wise. She's also quite powerful. She may know of a magic spell that can help you discover what your destiny is."_

But Twilight wasn't powerful enough to stop this war, Pumpkin realized. Even Princesses aren't invulnerable.

_Pumpkin Cake knocked on the door to the library. She half expected there to be no answer, for Twilight to be out on royal business or something. But the door opened after a few moments, and Spike the dragon answered._

"_Hello, um…"_

"_Pumpkin Cake. You might not remember me, but I remember you. You're Spike! Pinkie told us all about you. I'm the Cakes' daughter."_

_She shook hooves with the dragon._

_Spike said, "Oh, yeah, I remember you, too! But you were too young to talk when Twilight and I left for Manehattan four years ago. Nice to meet you."_

"_May I speak with the Princess?"_

"_Well, she's very busy, but I'll see if she can make an exception for an old friend." Spike left and returned a few moments later with Twilight Sparkle._

"_Pumpkin Cake! My, look how much you've grown! Please, come in! Sit down. So, tell me about yourself."_

Pumpkin Cake was distracted from her recollections by the door opening once more. Ten more fillies and colts walked in, with the guard at the door giving them the same warning and threat to their family should they try to escape. Some of the ponies in this group were no more than five years old. They cried and bawled hysterically. Pumpkin wondered whether or not some of them could even grasp the severity of the situation.

"_Your cutie mark, eh? Well, normally I'd refer you to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Those three fillies were so creative. They tried everything under the sun until each one finally found what her destiny was. I really admired their persistence. But, that group went their own ways years ago, after they all found their special talents. I don't even think they still live in Ponyville. Even if they did, I wouldn't know where to find them."_

"_Can you help me yourself, then?" Pumpkin asked._

"_Hmm. Well, I'm quite skilled in magic. That's how I became a princess. I see that you're a unicorn, like I used to be. Perhaps your special talent is magic, like mine? Or, maybe it's not magic itself, but something related to magic."_

"_I don't think so. I'm not too good at magic."_

Another, larger group of unicorn fillies and colts came in. There were twenty in this group. Pumpkin wondered if the soldiers planned on filling up the whole barn with captured children.

_Twilight asked, "Not good at magic? Maybe you are, but you just don't know it. What spells can you cast?"_

"_Just three spells. Levitation of little things; I can't lift a lot. Also, I know horn lighting, and I also know one other spell."_

"_What other spell?"_

"_I don't know what it's called, but it's not that great, anyway."_

"_What does it do? I'm curious now; I love magic of all types. Can you show me?" asked Twilight, leaning forward towards Pumpkin Cake, eyes wide._

_Pumpkin stared at the table at which the two sat. Her horn glowed cerulean, and a part of the tabletop glowed cerulean as well. She reached over with her hoof and stuck it straight through the table, as if the table was air. After a few moments, she removed her hoof, powered down her horn, and the table returned to normal._

"_An intangibility spell? Now that's intriguing!" exclaimed Twilight, her eyes lighting up in interest._

"_Yeah, it's nothing special," said Pumpkin, "Just some trick that I used to use to escape from my crib when I was younger, or that I use to walk through the walls to chase Pound whenever we play tag."_

"_No, you misunderstand me. 'Intriguing' means 'interesting.' That spell's actually really neat," said Twilight._

"_So is that my special talent?"_

"_I don't know. I haven't heard of too many other ponies who could do that. Not even I can do that spell. It certainly fulfills the 'special' requirement of special talent; I'll say that much."_

"_Yeah, but what can I do with an intangibability spell, anyway?"_

"Intangibility,_" Twilight corrected, "And as for what you can do with it, um… Be a secret agent? Um…"_

_She paused, trying to think of more things._

"_Be a prospector and use it to look for gold?"_

_Twilight paused once more, and asked, "Can you use it on other ponies, or use it on yourself?"_

"_No."_

"_Well, that rules out anything in healthcare, like doctor or surgeon. Hmm… Sorry, but I have nothing else. The few other ponies who I've ever heard of who could use that spell were outlaws who lived hundreds of years ago. They used it to rob banks, burglarize homes, and escape from prison after they were caught. You're a good pony, though; a life of crime or prison probably isn't in the cards for you."_

Pumpkin Cake looked at the dark walls surrounding her, the armed guard at the door, and the sad and despondent faces of the fillies and colts who sat within the barn. It certainly felt like a prison. Despite her magical ability to escape if she wanted, she wouldn't dare, for fear of what would happen to her parents and brother. And despite her having committed no crime, here she was, in prison regardless. She was old enough to grasp the irony of the situation, though not quite old enough to know what the word "irony" meant.

"_I'm sure that you'll think of some cool thing to do with your magic power," said Twilight, "And if you can't, I'm sure the Cutie Mark Crusaders can. If I ever see them again, I'll ask them and tell them to send you a letter. But, then again, that spell might not even be your special talent. Your talent could be something else even greater than that. Don't give up hope! You'll find your destiny someday; just be patient. Now, I have to go back to Manehattan this afternoon. You head along home. Good luck."_

_Pumpkin headed for the door._

"You'll find your destiny someday, just be patient." Pumpkin Cake thought about those words. How could she be patient with something as important as her destiny: what she would do for the rest of her life? As for finding it "someday," would there even _be_ a someday for her? Would she find what made her special and unique, even in this occupied town? Would they even let her live at all? Would-

"Attention, unicorn fillies and colts!" Pumpkin Cake's thoughts were interrupted by Trixie, who stepped in the door. Trixie lit up her horn with a light spell, bringing light to the darkened barn. Pumpkin could see that there were now about a hundred children in the barn.

"My name is the Great and Powerful Trixie. Some of you may recognize me from when I graciously freed you from your earth pony captors."

"But they're our parents!" a filly cried out.

"No, they're not. They are inferior ponies. Though they gave birth to you, you are no more theirs than you belong to the primordial soup which spawned life itself. They were your _surrogates_, but not true _parents,_ as only a unicorn could be. King Blueblood is your father, now. Welcome to the unicorn race, our children. We shall treat you far better than your parents ever did."

Nopony seemed impressed. Trixie continued regardless, "Now, not only are you unicorns, you are very _special _unicorns."

Pumpkin's ears perked up. _Special?_

As if reading her mind, Trixie said, "Yes, special indeed. As you know, farming and growing crops is normally the earth ponies' job. Normally, a unicorn can no more farm than fly. But you all _can_, because you're special. Earth pony magic runs through your veins from the surrogates who birthed you. Just as we freed you from your surrogates, allowing you your independence from them, you will repay the favor by growing crops for The Second Kingdom of Unicornia, allowing _our_ independence from earth ponies!"

"But I thought you already got your independence," said Sunrise Spring, "That's what we learned in history class. Unicornia got independence from Equestria to make peace. Then you kicked the earth ponies and pegasi out. You got what you wanted. Why are you invading, then?"

Trixie answered, "Well, the history you were taught, like so many other things, is either incomplete or a lie. Those lessons were incomplete. We gained independence in terms of borders on a map, but not in terms of our racial self-reliance. The Second Kingdom still relies on trade with Equestria for much of its food. We don't want to have to trade with them for anything, or else we're not truly independent; we're needy.

"We have already cast spells and built airplanes and machinery to change the weather without the pegasi. Soon, we shall move the sun and moon without the alicorns. Now, we shall feed ourselves without the earth ponies. That's why we are the superior race. Could an earth pony ever move clouds or the sun? No. They can only grow crops, but so can you. You can do all that they can do and so much more. We'll be truly independent, as only _we_ can be. We shall be self-sustaining, and we shall be sufficient unto the day.

"Whatever that mark on your flank says is your destiny, it's wrong. It was put there by inferiors who didn't want you to rise to your true potential. Your true destiny, all one hundred and four of you, is to grow crops and be farmers. With the help of our tractors, combine harvesters, seeders, and other farming machines made by the great unicorn inventors Flim and Flam, you will grow crops for thousands and thousands of other ponies. All of them will rely on you for life's nourishment itself! This is your duty as unicorns, to serve your race."

"My cutie mark isn't fake; it appeared when I found my special talent!" a filly objected.

"Young filly, do you know what brainwashing is?" Trixie asked in a consoling tone, walking over to the filly and smiling down at her.

"No."

"It's when you are lied to repeatedly, and then you believe it."

"We've been lied to?" the filly asked.

"Yes. Your parents, principals, pastors, police ponies, princesses, and other ponies in positions of power have pompously perpetrated a pack of pretensions to prevent you from partaking in your potential as providers of plenty!"

Pumpkin was perplexed.

Trixie continued, "Um, what I mean is that the ponies who claim to love you are actually stopping you from being the best that you can be by lying to you. The cutie mark is part of this lie. All of you should actually have farming cutie marks. You were brainwashed so much that the cutie mark magic itself was fooled. Thankfully, though, I'm here to correct it for the good of the unicorn race."

"But my special talent really is ice skating! I'm good at it! It has to be my destiny."

"You may be good at it, but is it really your _destiny_?" Trixie asked, "What's better, frolicking about in ice skates for a few other ponies' amusement, or growing food to feed _thousands_ of other ponies and give them life itself? Believe me, I was a performer once, too. I loved the cheers of the crowd. But I had the chance to join the Second Kingdom and make a true difference, and I'm a better pony for it. I used to call myself the Great and Powerful Trixie because that was my stage name. Now, I still call myself Great and Powerful, but for different reasons... because I am helping the unicorn master race realize its true greatness and power."

"But we still have these marks on our flanks," said a colt.

"Ah, but now you know that they're wrong. Tell me, children, how many of you believe in Santa Hooves?"

Roughly half of the room raised their hooves. Pumpkin kept hers down.

"Well, I hate to break it to the other half of the room, but he isn't real. Those presents were from your surrogates. Did you honestly think that one pony can visit every house on the planet in one night and deliver millions and millions of presents, all for free? That a fat old pony can fit down a narrow chimney, or even somehow get into houses without chimneys? Santa Hooves is impossible, even _with_ unicorn magic," she laughed.

A few of the very young fillies and colts started crying.

"Now, it's painful to reveal that truth to you… but the pain is necessary. Sooner or later, if I or someone else hadn't told you, your knowledge of how the world works would have informed you of this contradiction. You would've realized that Santa Hooves could not be real.

"It's painful to know, but with this pain comes power, as you now have knowledge that you didn't have before. Those of you who already knew that Santa Hooves was fake before I told you: would you take back the pain of the realization in exchange for never being able to know?"

No pony in the group raised a hoof.

"So, pain can be worth it if it leads to the truth, then; on this we agree."

Most of the ponies in the group nodded. Pumpkin did not, for though she agreed with the statement, she did not know where Trixie was going with it.

Trixie motioned for one of her guards to come towards her. He carried a long metal stick with an object attached to it at the end. Pumpkin didn't know what it was.

He held the handle of the stick in his magic as Trixie fired a magical ray of pure energy at it. She concentrated the beam for about a minute until the object on the end of the stick was red hot.

Pumpkin Cake could now see that it was a brand in the shape of two interlocking gears.

"This is a brand. It's meant to replace your false cutie mark with a true one. The two gears represent the farming machinery that will enable each of you to do the work it would normally take hundreds of earth ponies to do. See that saggy old plow over there?"

She pointed towards Big Macintosh's plow, which was parked against the side of the barn wall.

"You will not be using anything like that. Plows pulled solely by muscles are very inefficient. You'll use steam-powered tractors invented by Flim and Flam which will let you till a field hundreds of times larger than you could ever do with that old antique. The gears on this branding iron represent what is possible with technology created by the ingenuity of the unicorn master race. Now, this brand will hurt, but the pain will be temporary. The knowledge of the truth will be forever. Who's first?"

Nopony volunteered.

"Alright, then, how about you, filly with the blank flank and the orange mane? This will be less painful for you, as you have no cutie mark. You have yet to buy whatever lie your surrogates and so-called friends sold you about whatever your special talent would've been. Whatever it was, it would not have been as grand as this. Step forward."

Pumpkin gulped, but she walked forward, more terrified of what the consequences would be if she refused.

"What's your name?"

"Pu-pumpkin C-c-cake," she stammered.

"This will only hurt for a moment, Pumpkin Cake."

Trixie levitated the brand onto Pumpkin's flank, where it made contact. She heard the sizzling sound of flesh as it left its mark.

"AAH!" Pumpkin screamed. Tears of pain ran down her cheek as she bit down, nearly cracking her teeth. It was only a few seconds, but it felt like forever.

"You're such a trooper! Only one flank to go. Turn around, please."

Pumpkin obeyed. Before she knew it, the other flank was searing under the hot iron of the brand. She did not scream this time, but instead she sobbed and gritted her teeth.

"So brave! That deserves a round of applause. Give it up for Pumpkin Cake!"

Only a few ponies stomped their hooves.

"You can do better than that. Cheer for her!"

More of them this time, but still not everypony.

"Listen, she deserves accolades for that. She has the mark of knowledge, which is an achievement. Do you want us to be here all day, or shall we get the pain over with as soon as we can?"

This time, everypony stomped their hooves. Some even cheered.

"That's the spirit! Pumpkin, you may go sit down."

Trixie was wrong. Pumpkin's pain was far worse than the others. She had never gotten to know the joy of truly discovering her destiny before Trixie and the Unicornians invented a false answer and forced it onto her. Not just that, but she went through the branding knowing full well that at any moment, she could've just cast an intangibility spell on the brand to make it as harmless as the air.


	3. Out of Danger

In the dark of the Sugarcube Corner cellar, Pound Cake as well as his parents sat in shock after the soldiers left with Pumpkin Cake.

Nopony said a word for a few minutes. Finally, Pound Cake spoke.

"What did they do with her?"

Mrs. Cake responded, "I don't know, son."

"So, honey, what's the plan?" Mr. Cake asked.

"Well, we will have to hope for the best, I guess. I mean, whatever they've done with her, she IS a unicorn, and the Second Kingdom takes care of unicorns, so…"

"You aren't seriously saying we should just let them take her without putting up a fight?" Mr. Cake asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't see how we have any other choice, dearie. Unless you're going to propose some daring rescue attempt. But hopefully I don't have to tell you how reckless that is. We don't know where they've taken her, or even if she's still alive. We don't know how many soldiers are there, but most likely you'll be outnumbered. We don't know where we'll go even if we _can_ get her back, because we certainly can't stay here. We don't even know if it's safe for us to walk out that cellar door, or if they'll shoot us on sight!"

"I'm not suggesting anything at this point, Cup. All I'm saying is that I am not going to lose my daughter to these ponies without doing _something_!" he firmly stated.

"Well then, what will you do, Carrot?" she asked.

"I'll think of something. We just need to scope the town out somehow and find…"

"I'll do it!" Pound exclaimed.

"You'll do no such thing, young stallion!" Mrs. Cake scolded.

"But all I'll do is just fly up in the air, find where she is, and come back and tell you so you can figure out what to do," Pound explained.

"Well, honey, it _would_ be nice to not go into this blind, and know where they're keeping her. I doubt that they'll shoot Pound for just flying around, as long as he doesn't do anything suspicious. They didn't seem to be shooting at civilians before," Mr. Cake said.

"Well, what if they _start_? A few days ago, the Second Kingdom and Equestria were at peace. A fragile peace, but still it was peace. But then they launched a surprise invasion, killed dozens and dozens of the town guard, and they kidnapped our daughter along with who knows how many other unicorn fillies and colts. Going from that to shooting a bunch of civilians in cold blood isn't exactly too much of a stretch."

"Well then," Mr. Cake retorted, "Why not just live in this cellar for the rest of our lives? If you're so worried that they'll just shoot a kid for flying around, or shoot us for walking around, then let's just never leave!"

"No, we'll leave," she said, "But…"

"But what? But then we'll live in fear for the rest of our lives? We'll spend the rest of our lives lying awake at night wondering what would've happened if we had tried to rescue her? If maybe, just maybe, we could've gotten her back and escaped from Ponyville _as a family?_ Yes, maybe I end up shot and killed. But at least I tried."

Mrs. Cake groaned, "Well, not that there's any use arguing the point anyway. You've made up your mind. Just promise me that you'll keep Pound safe."

"He knows what to do. Don't you, Pound? Just fly around the town, get a pegasus' eye view, and find out where they took Pumpkin and the other foals that we heard Trixie mention."

"I'd imagine they took any unicorn with earth pony parents, since that was who Trixie said," said Mrs. Cake, "For a town like Ponyville, that would probably be at least a few dozen. So just look for a large group of fillies and colts. But for Luna's sake, be safe and keep your head down! Try not to look suspicious. If one of the soldiers yells a command at you, just do whatever they tell you. It's not worth you getting shot, and then we lose you _and_ Pumpkin. Understand?"

"Yes," Pound said.

"Now, if they DO start shooting at you, I want you to fly as high up as you can so that they have less chance of hitting you."

"Yes, mom."

"Good, dearie. Alright, now I feel more comfortable letting him do this," said Mrs. Cake, "Granted, I'm not_completely_ okay with it, since it's dangerous, but I guess you're right that it would be dangerous anyway."

"Yes, that it would, Cup. Now, let's do something that we would have to do anyway. Let's leave the cellar. I'll just grab that barrel with my gun in it, and we'll go."

He walked over to the barrel and heaved it onto his back.

"Wait a minute," said Mrs. Cake, "Is anything else in there besides the gun?"

"No, why?" Mr. Cake asked.

"Because what if they search it? Then they'll find the gun. Here…"

Mrs. Cake lit a match and set it on the floor so that she could see. She went over to a sack of flour, ripped it open with her teeth, and poured it into the barrel. She then got another sack and emptied it as well. The flour was just enough to conceal the rifle.

"Great, now I'll have to clean all the flour off my gun," Mr. Cake groaned.

"At least you'll still be alive to do it," Mrs. Cake responded, "But all three of us walking out of this cellar with just one barrel is suspicious. Pound and I will grab other barrels of flour as well, that way we can say that we all came down here to get flour."

They each grabbed a barrel, and then the three of them headed up the steps, out of the cellar, and into the sunlight. They squinted their eyes as they adjusted to the light.

They walked around to the front of the house, carrying the barrels on their backs. However, a unicorn soldier in the street saw them, and he raised his gun towards them.

"Halt! What's in those barrels?"

"Just some flour: we run a bakery," said Mr. Cake.

"Flour? Likely story. For all I know they're full of weapons or bullets, or makeshift bombs," the soldier said, "Put them on the ground."

The Cakes put the three barrels on the ground. The unicorn soldier lifted the lids off of each barrel with his magic. Seeing nothing but flour, he put the lids back.

"Very well, then. Carry on. Oh, and kid. Do you fly?"

"Yes," Pound responded.

"Figures. Well, just stay out of the way of our airplanes if you don't want to get torn up by a propeller. We've had some accidents with pegasi civilians before."

"Oh, well thanks," said Pound Cake.

"Mhm," he muttered, walking away.

The Cakes continued into the bakery, where they put down their barrels.

"Well, he was… nice?" said Mr. Cake, "Though they can't _all_ be evil, I suppose."

"Yes, and now at least we know Pound won't be shot down out of the sky," said Mrs. Cake.

"Okay, I'll go scope out the town," said Pound Cake.

"Be safe, whatever you do," warned Mrs. Cake.

"I know you can do this, son. Be brave," Mr. Cake encouraged.

"You bet," said Pound, opening the door, taking off into the air.

* * *

Pound Cake soared in the air above Ponyville, looking for any sign of his sister or the other unicorn foals. From a few hundred meters in the air where he was, he could see down into the streets below and to the tops of the buildings.

There were several buildings smoldering, and several which had completely burned. He saw a few Ponyville residents inspecting the remainder of their homes.

Despite the carnage, he could see that the fight had not been entirely one-sided. He saw a makeshift medical tent set up in the middle of the town, and dozens of unicorns were being treated for bullet wounds.

He continued flying over the city, in shock at how different it appeared now. The streets and skies were nearly deserted. Those few ponies who were outside, such as him, scurried about nervously, glancing over their shoulders from time to time.

Unicorn soldiers walked from house to house, knocking on doors. He noticed that most of them were simply knocking, entering the house, and then leaving a few minutes later. He figured they were conducting random searches as they had been with his parents.

He flew along, not seeing anything of note, until he saw a group of soldiers carrying a unicorn colt in their magic.

_Of course, I just need to follow them!_

Pound ascended a few hundred more meters into the air until he was well above sight of the unicorns. He didn't want them to think he was following them. He sat on a nearby cloud, as if taking a rest, and observed these soldiers. They were small specks, about the size of ants at his height, but he could still just barely make them out.

After about ten minutes, he saw that they were headed in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. He saw ten unicorn troops stationed on the outside of the barn.

He dashed back to Sugarcube Corner, opened the door, and told his parents.

"Hey, they're taking all the unicorn children to Sweet Apple Acres."

"Alright, thanks, son," said Mr. Cake, who was busy cleaning flour out of his hunting rifle, "Now, here's what I need you to do. Your mother has come up with a plan for the three of us to rescue your sister, and it won't put our lives in danger. Now, listen carefully, and I'll tell you what to do."

* * *

A few hours later, Pound Cake emerged from the bakery along with his mother and father. His father carried a cart in tow, and on the cart was a large barrel. The family walked down the street of town, chatting with each other and trying to appear inconspicuous as a normal family would.

Pound Cake and his parents eyed the soldiers who walked around the town. None of them seemed to pay his parents any mind, until one of them stopped them and asked to search the barrel. Finding only pies, he let them walk on their way. The Cakes began walking in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, cart in tow.

As soon as they were far enough outside of town to where there was nopony around, Mr. Cake unhitched himself from the cart. He bent down, reached under the cart, and retrieved the rifle which he had placed atop the axles of the wheels. He then ran into the thick grove of trees where nopony could see him.

"Oh, don't forget this," said Mrs. Cake. He turned around as she reached into the barrel and got the pie on the top, handing it to Mr. Cake.

"Thanks," he said, retrieving it. He ran into the trees and removed the pie crust. This particular pie was a decoy, and was in fact full of dozens of bullets for his rifle. Mr. Cake hurried through the trees towards the Apple Family barn. Mrs. Cake took the cart, and she and her son continued down the path for a while longer until they reached the fence indicating the Sweet Apple Acres property line. A unicorn soldier stood guard on the path.

"Halt!" the guard said, holding up his hoof. "What business do you two have here?"

"My son and I just need to deliver this order of pies to the Apple Family, and then we'll be on our way," said Mrs. Cake, smiling at him.

"That's too bad," said the guard. "This farm is no longer their property. You won't find them here."

"Oh no!" cried Mrs. Cake, "But then what will we do with all of these dozens of pies? The Apple Family needed them for their family reunion!"

"I don't know," said the guard.

"Great, now they'll just go to waste," she lamented. "Are you sure that you don't want them, dearie?" She reached into the barrel, grabbed a pie, and offered it to the guard. The guard's eyes widened as he took a whiff of the delicious apple pie.

"Hmm… well, I haven't eaten all day…" he said.

"Here you go," said Mrs. Cake, giving the guard the pie. He hungrily wolfed it down.

"Mmm," he said, "Alright, just head down to the barn; you'll find a bunch of unicorn fillies and colts. Just give the pies to them, and I'm sure they'll eat them up. But there's armed guards, so don't try any funny business, or Sergeant Bolt Action will have you shot."

Mrs. and Pound Cake continued through the wooden gate. Mr. Cake, who was hidden in the trees, saw this exchange and took it as a sign to continue. He walked through the orchard, making sure to remained concealed. When he reached the barn, he climbed a nearby apple tree and used the leaves for cover.

Mrs. Cake and her son walked down the path and up to the front door of the barn. They saw that there were about five guards stationed at various posts around the barn. When they tried to enter, one of the guards stopped them.

"Pie delivery for a bunch of hungry fillies and colts," said Mrs. Cake.

The guard raised his eyebrow. "We didn't order any pies. You'll have to go back."

"Sergeant Bolt Action sent us," said Pound Cake, taking a gamble.

"Oh, did he? Alright, come on in."

Mrs. Cake entered the barn. Once they were out of earshot, Mrs. Cake scolded, "Pound. That was incredibly risky. What if HE had been the sergeant, or had called up the sergeant and found you were lying?"

"Well, he didn't." Pound shrugged.

They continued into the dimly-lit barn, seeing dozens of unicorn fillies and colts on the ground. They all had the gear brands on their flanks. Some of them were still sobbing from the pain. Pound and his mother winced at the sight. They did not see Pumpkin in the crowd, because it was too dark. Pumpkin, however, did see them from near the rear of the barn from where she sat. She refrained from speaking for a moment, rightly thinking it to be some sort of ploy to rescue her.

Trixie stood and glanced at the two Cakes.

"You two? What are you doing here?" she demanded, "As I recall, I took a unicorn from you, a unicorn whom you as an earth pony had no right to raise, so you'd better not be here to ask for her back."

"Oh, no, dearie, we're just here to deliver some pies," said Mrs. Cake, opening the barrel and pulling a pie out.

Trixie eyed them suspiciously.

"The ones that Sergeant Bolt Action ordered us to make?" Pound Cake added.

"Sergeant Bolt Action?" asked Trixie, "Well…"

Mrs. Cake's heart jumped in her chest.

"Glad to see that you two are obedient to your unicorn superiors."

Trixie turned to the children, "You all have been so brave. I thought that you deserved a treat, so here are some apple pies for you."

The children, who had not eaten in hours, stood up and formed a line to receive their pies. Pumpkin stood near the end of the line.

The two Cakes quickly emptied out the barrel, but there were twenty or so children who had yet to receive the pies.

"Don't tell me you didn't bring enough," Trixie sighed, "I see eighteen children who didn't get one."

"Huh, that's funny. Pound, did you forget them?"

"Oops," said Pound, blushing, "I think I left the other barrel back at the bakery. I can just fly back to the bakery and get them." Pound headed for the front door of the barn.

Trixie sighed. "Stupid dirt ponies," she grumbled.

Pound left the barn and flew two hundred meters straight up into the air and waved his hooves. His father, upon seeing this, took it as a signal and fired his rifle, taking a few potshots at the side of the barn.

Meanwhile, back in the barn, Trixie heard the gunfire. She ran outside to investigate, leaving just one guard in the barn.

Mr. Cake took a more deliberate shot this time, and he hit his mark. A unicorn guard fell down, a shot straight through his chest.

"We're under fire! We've taken a casualty! All units respond!" The last guard from the barn ran outside to assist. This left no guards inside of the barn.

"Pumpkin!" Mrs. Cake cried out.

"Mommy!" cried Pumpkin Cake, and she ran over to her mother, giving her a hug, "What are you doing here?"

"There's no time to explain, Pumpkin. Here." Mrs. Cake picked up her daughter and set her inside the barrel, putting the lid back on. She turned around to exit the barn, but a colt from the crowd said, "No fair! Why didn't my parents come to rescue me?"

"Shh. They'll be here soon, dearies," said Mrs. Cake, "I have to go; our family needs to escape."

"No fair!" another yelled.

Soon, several fillies and colts began screaming and crying. One of the guards from outside ran back in upon hearing the commotion, and discovered that Mrs. Cake was still there. He stood outside the door, drew his rifle, and pointed it at her. The children, upon seeing the guard, quieted down.

"What's all the commotion?" he asked, accusingly.

Pound Cake glanced down from the air where he still hovered and saw the guard had his rifle drawn and pointed into the barn. Scared that his mother was in trouble, he dive bombed straight towards the barn door and the guard.

"They're just scared from the gunfire," said Mrs. Cake.

Pound was closing in on his target.

"Ah, I see. Carry on then," said the guard in the split second right before Pound Cake delivered a flying kick to his back, knocking him clear across the barn. In the guard's confusion, he fired a bullet from his rifle.

"AAH!" Mrs. Cake screamed, hit with a bullet in her leg. She fell where she stood.

"Mommy!" said Pound. He flew back around and up to his mother, "I saw you were in trouble."

"No, I just had to talk to the guard, that was all. Why didn't you do as I told you and go back to the bakery after you gave the signal?"

"I just wanted to help…"

They heard voices off in the distance.

"The sniper's been neutralized. Just another Equestrian sympathizer…"

Pound flew up into the rafters, hiding just as a guard entered the barn.

"What's going ON?" he exclaimed.

"Nothing, just a little firing accident," Mrs. Cake answered.

"Wait a minute…" The guard ran over to his unconscious comrade. He glared menacingly at Mrs. Cake.

"You!" He levitated his rifle up and took a shot at her.

"AAH!" she screamed, this time hit in the stomach.

"No!" yelled Pound, flying down and bucking the guard before he could react.

The guard fell to the floor, knocked out cold.

"Go to… go to Cloudsdale, out of danger...… take your sister… it's safe there…" Mrs. Cake spoke, coughing up blood. Her eyes closed as she faded away.

"Nooooo!" Pound yelled once more. He flew over to the barrel and opened it to find Pumpkin Cake still hiding inside.

"Pumpkin, come on! We've got to go to Cloudsdale!"

"No, Pound! Not without mom and dad. Who will take care of us?"

"Look, I don't know, but mom and dad can't come. Come on, get out of that barrel and let's go! Quit bein' a scaredy-cat!"

"No, it's too dangerous!"

Pound tipped over the barrel and tried to wrench her sister out, but she wouldn't budge.

"In here! I heard gunfire!"

Hearing the soldiers, Pound gave up trying to get his sister, but instead said, "Look, I'll come back for you. It's okay."

Pound flew off, out the door of the barn. The unicorns fired shots at him, but missed, and he ascended higher and higher into the heavens.

He reached a cloud and sat down on it, his head spinning. He lay down on the soft pillow as the hard reality hit him. Both of his parents were dead. His mother was shot. If she wasn't dead, she was dying. His father had been "neutralized," so in all likelihood dead as well.

He sobbed. His parents, both dead. His sister, a prisoner who wouldn't come with him.

_And it's all my fault,_ he thought.


	4. Project Orbit

Inside the Wonderbolt command center, Twilight Sparkle sat at a table. In front of her stood a map of the Western Continent on which both Equestria and the Second Kingdom sat. The map had various colored pony figures on it to represent the two armies.

"General Spitfire, status report?" asked Twilight.

"We've been planning our next move ever since we got the news yesterday that Ponyville had been invaded," said Spitfire, "This afternoon, we'll launch our air force at their positions in Ponyville and in Canterlot here and here."

She moved the pieces on the map to show the strategy.

"Unfortunately, we've had to divert some of our resources to Vanhoover to combat the recent Zebra Empire invasion, as indicated by the striped pieces over here."

Prince Blueblood had forged an alliance between the Zebra Empire and the Second Kingdom, and the Zebra Empire had agreed to offer forces for Blueblood's invasion if Blueblood would supply them with war planes in their ongoing wars against the griffons.

"In spite of this, I believe that we can still deal a crushing blow to Blueblood," said Spitfire. "We have air superiority over him. He may be able to match our forces on the ground with unicorn magic, but from the air, he's virtually powerless. He has a few thousand bi-planes, but they're slower and harder to maneuver than pegasi, and we have ten battalions of 2,000 pegasi each. That's not even counting reserves."

She pointed to the forces on the map.

"The Zebras, on the other hoof, have no air force to speak of, other than the few planes that the Second Kingdom gave them. And their magic is limited to potion-making, so they can't even cast protective force fields or teleport like the unicorns can. That'll make their ground forces much easier to defeat. They're practically sitting ducks. Don't know why Blueblood got himself such a weak ally."

She knocked over the striped zebra figures near Vanhoover.

"I predict this war will be over in quite a hurry. Blueblood will surrender, and we'll get back Ponyville. We may even be able to ask him for more. So much for the unicorn master race!" She knocked over all of the unicorn figures and chuckled.

"Hmm," Twilight said, scratching her chin with her hoof. "This victory almost seems too easy. Why do you think he attacked us if his forces were so outnumbered, and he didn't have an air strategy?"

"Cockiness, probably," General Spitfire answered. "I mean, look at me. Even though I have pride and confidence in my forces, I know when I don't stand a chance. Folks like Blueblood, though? They're egomaniacal and think that they're hot stuff when they clearly aren't. Hell, Blueblood doesn't even have enough food to feed his people now that there's a war. The Second Kingdom was trading with us for most of their food. Now that there's a war and they can't trade with us, the Second Kingdom will be starving within a year. Blueblood's clearly short-sighted, and this war will be over in a hurry."

"Yeah, I guess…" Twilight began, "But I think that this war might not turn out as easy as you think. Blueblood may be egomaniacal or narcissistic, but he's not an idiot. He wouldn't attack if he didn't think there wasn't a conceivable way for him to win. Even if he wanted to attack without an advantage, I doubt his council of ministers or whatever wouldn't put up a fight and beg or even force him not to."

"Well, if you see any way for him to win, believe me, I'm all ears," said Spitfire, "But look at this map. We surround the Second Kingdom from all sides except the north, which is a frozen wasteland anyway. Even the zebras aren't that much of a match. How much can tribal potion makers be capable of, anyway? Blueblood's air force is a joke. Yeah, his ground troops are well trained in magic, but our ground forces outnumber him over two to one. Even if we didn't have an air force at all, he'd still have a battle on his hooves, most likely a draw.

"The only thing he has going for him is Canterlot, which is a mountain city and easily defensible. So, no, maybe we can't easily take Canterlot back from him. But all this open space? He can't hold it forever. I think he just made a stupid decision, and now he'll pay the price for it, and hopefully never think of attacking Equestria again when we're through with him."

"I hope you're right," said Twilight, gazing down at the map.

* * *

On his cloud far above Ponyville and the Second Kingdom forces, Pound sat, gazing forlornly down at the town below. His eyes clouded with tears, and his screams pierced the air, audible to nopony but him.

After some time, his bawling turned to sobs, which turned to occasional tears, which turned to a simple sense of sadness. The initial shock of his parents' death had worn off, replaced by a sense of fatigue. His eyelids drooped heavy over his eyes. He slept for about an hour before he woke up, restless.

Finally, he stood up and said to himself, "Gotta be strong." He took off from the cloud and flew towards the direction of Cloudsdale, where his mother had told him to go.

On his way, however, he saw hundreds upon hundreds of Pegasi troops flying towards Ponyville. He figured that these were the reinforcements from Equestria which were going off to fight Blueblood. In fact, they were the same ones which General Spitfire had just sent to retake Ponyville.

After another hour of flying, Pound Cake reached the city of Cloudsdale. He landed on a cloud near the edge of town, and he could hear the air raid sirens blaring. He glanced around and saw ponies flying all around, blanketing the sky and casting shadows down onto the clouds.

A pegasus mare flew up to Pound Cake. "Hey, colt! You should get inside! Where's your mother?"

"She's gone," said Pound, sniffling a bit.

"And your father?"

"Gone, too."

"Oh… well, gosh, I'm sorry. But hey, it's not safe for you out here. Where do you live?"

"Ponyville."

"So you're a refugee?"

"What's that?" he asked.

"You fled the war?" she clarified.

"Yes."

"Good. Alright, come on. You can follow me. I work here at the military base. You can go wait in the bunker until this whole mess is over."

The mare led him through the town, and over to a giant building. It had a marble column edifice, and a fountain on its front lawn. Several bronze statues of pegasi military heroes stood in the courtyard.

They walked in through the double doors, and down the hallway. Blue-uniformed pegasi zipped through the halls, responding to the air raid sirens. Finally, Pound reached a set of steel blast doors, over which the word "BUNKER" was written.

The mare unlocked the door, and Pound entered the room. Its walls were grey concrete, and a hard concrete bench stood against the wall. The room measured no more than a few meters square. He was alone in the room, save for a few barrels on the back wall.

"Wait here until you no longer hear the sirens," said the mare, running off.

* * *

Explosions rocked the ground outside of Ponyville as tents exploded and burst into flames. A purple magical force field over one of the tents finally shattered as a bomb hit it, leaving the tent exposed.

"Take cover! Retreat into Ponyville!" a unicorn general called out as another pegasi bomb fell a short distance away, blowing debris into his eyes.

Flashes of white light erupted everywhere as the unicorns teleported into nearby Ponyville. They ran around to the houses, beating down doors and taking shelter inside the homes.

* * *

"Those cowards! Hiding in civilian homes! Stallions, I want you to go down there and conduct house to house sweeps. Get every one of those cowards out. If they don't surrender, shoot them dead," Spitfire commanded.

Hundreds of her pegasi soldiers flew down into the town below, fanning out into the town and going house to house.

Suddenly, she heard gunfire and yelling as several of her soldiers fell. She turned around to see twenty unicorn-piloted bi-planes closing in on her position.

"Up!" she commanded, and the pegasi soldiers flew straight up, outmaneuvering the bi-planes.

"Open fire!"

Her soldiers aimed at the unicorn pilots, taking them and their planes out. One by one, they crashed to the ground and burst into flames. The battle continued for another few hours, with the pegasi taking only minimal losses.

Spitfire hovered in the air, watching the battle progress on the ground, and giving occasional orders to the sergeants.

"General Spitfire!" A Pegasus sergeant flew up to her.

"Yes, sergeant?"

"We've cleared out most of the homes on the south end of town, where their presence was the sparsest. We're moving our way north. We're having heavy firefights, and it may take us several days to capture the north end of town. One group in particular is giving us trouble. There's a barn on the northwestern edge of town, and the unicorns are holding about a hundred unicorn fillies and colts hostage. They're threatening to kill them if we come in."

"Civillian hostages? In a warzone? Well, guess I'd expect such barbarism from ponies in Blueblood's army. Hold off on that position, for now, and just focus on securing as much of the town as you can."

"Yes ma'am."

* * *

"King Blueblood, your majesty!"

The grey-coated unicorn general approached Blueblood's throne in Canterlot, bowing.

"Yes? How goes the Ponyville campaign?" Blueblood asked, "Are you still maintaining our hold on that town?"

"We're fighting for it once again. The pegasi from Cloudsdale have been called in. They've proven themselves to be far more of a challenge than Ponyville's town guard was. We're losing ground as we speak."

"What about our bi-planes? We were supposed to be able to take out the pegasi with those."

"Our planes aren't not appearing to be a match. We've lost over fifty of them, and only managed to kill a few of the pegasi. The bi-planes are just no match for the pegasi. They just keep outmaneuvering us and taking out the pilots. Our planes can only fly so fast and can only turn so sharply. The pegasi can zip around, hover, and dodge."

Blueblood paused for a moment, deep in thought.

The general continued, "At this rate, your majesty, we will lose our hold on Ponyville by tomorrow and will have to make a tactical retreat."

Blueblood's brow furrowed.

"Your majesty?"

Finally, Blueblood answered, "General… begin Project Orbit."

* * *

Later that evening, the air raid sirens cut off as the fighting simmered down for the night. Pound Cake got up out of the bunker and wandered through the halls of the military base, looking for someone he could speak to.

"Pound Cake!"

He turned around as he saw Rainbow Dash flying towards him.

"Rainbow Dash?" he asked.

Rainbow Dash picked up Pound Cake and gave him a hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay! What happened? What are you doing up here?"

"My sister was captured by the unicorns," he started. "We tried to rescue her, but my parents…"

He paused for a few moments, but Rainbow Dash got the message.

"Yeah. Before she died, my mom told me to head to Cloudsdale where it was safe."

"I'm so sorry to hear that, Pound. I guess that means that you need new ponies to take care of you. I have some friends in Cloudsdale, so I'll see what I can do to find you a new home. But right now, I'm a bit busy. Me and the other Elements of Harmony have to deal with something."

His eyes lit up. "Are you going to use the Elements to stop the war so I can go back to Ponyville?"

"No, I'm afraid the Elements don't work like that," Rainbow said, "It's a different sort of threat. Well… maybe you'd best come outside. I'd rather show you than tell you."

Rainbow Dash and Pound Cake walked outside. Rainbow Dash motioned with her hoof up into the air. Pound Cake looked up and saw what she was pointing at.

The moon was enormous. Normally, it would appear to be the size of an Equestrian bit held at hoof's length. Now, however, it was the size of a melon, and growing.

Military ponies dressed in uniform all gazed up at the sky. Rainbow Dash flew off to join her other five friends, who stood on the courtyard of the base, along with several military ponies in uniform. Pound simply stared up at the moon.

"Twilight, what's happening?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I don't know. Princess Luna says she isn't the one who's doing it. She and I have tried using our magic to get the moon back to its correct height, but it won't work. Our magic can only slow it down, not stop it. It just keeps coming down, like there's a greater force on it than our magic."

"That doesn't make any sense," said Rarity, "Because the only other ponies who can move the moon besides the princesses…"

"Were the ancient unicorns of the first kingdom of Unicornia, yes," said Twilight, "Before Princesses Celestia and Luna came along."

"But what about the Second Kingdom?" asked Fluttershy.

"Think they figured out how to raise the sun and moon?" asked Applejack.

"Quite possibly," said Twilight Sparkle, "And I think I'll go on a diplomatic mission to Canterlot discuss this with Blueblood or someone from his empire and find out what they want."

"Silly Twilight, you don't need to go to Canterlot to talk to them!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Why not?" Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"Because Trixie is right behind you!"

Twilight and the other five element holders glanced behind themselves to see Trixie Lulamoon floating in a hot air balloon near the edge of the clouds. She was no more than ten meters away. She moved the balloon closer to the clouds, and then stepped out. Like Twilight and her friends, she had cast a spell on herself to be able to temporarily walk on clouds.

"Trixie!" Twilight exclaimed. The other military ponies who were gathered turned their gaze towards her..

"Ah, yes, Twilight Sparkle and her little friends. I haven't seen you in ages, _Princess_ Twilight and company. Tell me, other Elements of Harmony, how does it feel to be passed up for a royal promotion so that your OCD little unicorn friend could get the job instead? I'll bet it just tears you up inside."

"Twilight's a great princess!" Rainbow stomped her hoof.

"Yes, she deserved it," said Fluttershy.

"And you five didn't deserve such an honor as well? You wouldn't make good princesses, too?" Trixie asked.

"No, we _didn't_ deserve it! We'd make _terrible_ princesses!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. Everypony looked at her quizzically, unsure of whether or not she was joking.

Trixie continued, "Sounds to me like Princess Celestia was playing favorites because Twilight here has a horn and can use magic almost as well as I can. Whereas the rest of you are earth ponies or pegasi."

"Ahem!" Rarity said.

"Or race traitors. Same difference."

"Just tell us why you're here, Trixie," said Twilight.

"Ah, yes. Well, I'm sure many of you have noticed the moon. You see, our unicorn wizards have decided that it shouldn't just be the alicorns who control the moon. It should be done democratically. And since there are far more of us than there are of just you and Luna, we get to move the moon. And right now, we've moved it to a very special place."

"You're not gonna crash the moon into Equestria, are ya? You'd kill everyone on the planet, yourselves included!" Applejack exclaimed.

"She's right," said Twilight, "The force of the impact could tear the globe apart at worst. At best, it

would release massive clouds of dust into the atmosphere, causing another ice age."

"No, of course we won't crash the moon into Equestria. We're not suicidal," said Trixie, laughing.

Everypony in the crowd breathed a sigh of relief.

"No, we're just going to crash it into Cloudsdale."

The crowd gasped.

"That's right," Trixie explained, "Remember, Cloudsdale is fifteen kilometers above the earth's surface, or nine miles in your antiquated Equestrian units. So if we just crashed it into Cloudsdale, that would only affect Cloudsdale. Other than falling cloud debris and a bit of a temporary mess with the tides, which doesn't affect the landlocked Second Kingdom, the rest of the earth would be fine."

"You can't do that!" exclaimed Twilight.

"Actually, we can. We're magic, remember?" Trixie chuckled.

"We'll stop you!" Fluttershy yelled.

"Oh, how cute. If it's something that can be stopped, then just try to stop it! Once you try, and after you realize the futility of your efforts, you will then flee your city as it's reduced to nothing."

"But all you're doing is just destroying buildings," said Twilight, "Everypony will leave before the moon hits."

"Ah, but you are wrong on both counts," said Trixie, "Even if you somehow evacuate everypony from Cloudsdale, which for a city of this size would be impossible, you will also lose quite a bit. You'll lose the Wonderbolts training ground, the weather factory for all of Equestria, all the critical military documents in the air base, all the weapons and ammunition in the armory… yes, even if we don't kill a single pegasus, we still have a strategic victory here."

Trixie grinned from ear to ear for a few moments before adding, "Unless, of course, you all agree to a ceasefire. In which case, we will leave the moon right where it is."

"No deal," said Twilight, "How do we know that you won't just break it like you broke the last peace treaty? We're not making the mistake of trusting you again. This war will end with either Equestria or the Second Kingdom defeated. Preferably, it will end with your kingdom part of Equestria once more."

"I know you have reservations," said Trixie, "That's why I asked for a mere _ceasefire._ Not a treaty. If you agree, which you have until midnight to do, we will pause the moon, you will pause your troops, we will pause ours, and we will keep whatever land we've gained under our control, and vice versa. That is, until either side starts shooting again and decides to start this little war back up once more."

"Still no deal," said Twilight, "As my military advisors have informed me, your forces are about to lose control of Ponyville. Why would I declare a ceasefire when my side's winning?"

"You don't, and the moon crashes into Cloudsdale. You'd sacrifice a city with millions of residents and homes for a town with a few thousand?"

"I think we can stop the moon."

"I think you _can't._ You have until midnight to change your mind. At midnight, the moon will destroy this city. You have been warned."

Trixie threw down a puff of smoke, then when the smoke cleared, everypony could see that she was back in her hot air balloon flying away.

"Let's get her!" said Rainbow Dash, rising in the air. She began to dash off towards Trixie, but Applejack grabbed her by the tail.

"Woah now," said Applejack, "Gettin' her won't solve anything. We need to stay here and use the elements to push the moon back."

"Would the elements even work for something like that?" Rarity asked.

"I actually don't know that," said Twilight, "Usually, the elements of harmony are for use on ponies to neutralize them, like we did with Nightmare Moon or Discord. But on a moon? I don't know."

"It's worth a shot," said Fluttershy.

They all nodded.

"Uh, Pound Cake?" said Rainbow Dash.

"Yeah?"

"You can just stick with us for now."

"Okay."

They headed towards the town square of Cloudsdale. They could see ponies frantically zooming around as they heard the air raid sirens blaring. Ponies scrambled, carrying belongings with them as they evacuated and the moon grew ever larger in the sky.

"Alright, girls, let's give it a go," said Twilight. They all stood in a circle, with Twilight in the middle, as they activated the Elements of Harmony. A rainbow beam emanated from them and shot up towards the moon.

The beam continued for about ten minutes, but then Pinkie Pie said, "It's no use! The moon is still moving! I can see it!"

"Aw ponyfeathers!" said Applejack.

"Hey, Pinkie, how come your tail isn't twitching? The moon's falling, right? And it's right over us." asked Rainbow Dash.

"Yeah, it is. Hmm. Maybe my Pinkie Sense doesn't work on cataclysmic or slow motion events. Maybe it just works on flower pots and anvils." Pinkie shrugged.

"Alright, girls. Well, at least we tried," said Twilight. They powered down the Elements. "Let's go."

"Pound," said Rainbow Dash, "Come with us. We'll get you to safety."

Pound followed them as they went back to Twilight's hot air balloon, their heads hung low in defeat. The moon continued its slow descent towards Cloudsdale.

"Will you sign the ceasefire, Twilight? To save Cloudsdale?" Rarity asked.

"I think I may. Though it will buy Blueblood time to put up more defenses in Ponyville, it might also buy us enough time to figure out how to stop the moon."


	5. The Ceasefire

"Ah, Princesses Sparkle and Luna. So glad that you could join us here. Ready to sign that ceasefire?" King Blueblood asked, seated at the head of a long conference table in Canterlot.

"Yes, we are," answered Princess Luna, who had flown in from Manehattan.

"As you can see, even though it is now three o'clock in the morning, we have stopped the moon's descent and have not destroyed Cloudsdale in a show of good faith, ever since Twilight arrived," said Blueblood, pointing out the window towards Cloudsdale.

The moon was only a small distance above Cloudsdale. It was so close that ponies could see every detail of the craters and the crevices without needing a telescope. At the time that the moon stopped, it was only two hours away from hitting Cloudsdale.

"We have also ordered our troops to stand down," Blueblood added.

"And we've ordered ours to stand down," said Twilight Sparkle. "This ceasefire will just make it official."

"Excellent," said Blueblood, picking up the quill in his magic and signing the ceasefire agreement. Princesses Luna and Twilight did the same.

"Now, I hope you don't expect this ceasefire to be forever, Prince Blueblood. We fully intend on recapturing both Ponyville and Canterlot someday, bringing thy kingdom to an end," said Princess Luna, "As well as regaining control of the moon and saving Cloudsdale."

"You messed up big time by invading, Blueblood," said Twilight, "You got everything you wanted in that treaty five years ago. You got Canterlot, a unicorns-only kingdom, a lot of farmland, free trade with us… you had it made, but you went and ruined it with this cowardly attack of yours, because you got greedy and wanted more."

"We will not rest until all of Equestria is reunited," said Luna, "and your evil empire is defeated. We tolerated it before; we shall not tolerate it now that you have shown your true colors. Your invasion was a grave mistake."

Blueblood smiled. "This ceasefire is to my benefit."

"Because you were losing and had to resort to a cowardly act like threatening to destroy thousands of civilian homes to not lose Ponyville to our army," said Twilight.

"Maybe that is why I did it. Or, maybe I am counting on this little ceasefire of ours to last longer than you think. Maybe I expect it to turn into an actual treaty which benefits me."

"You are delusional," said Princess Luna, "Whatever treaty you sign, it won't be with us."

Blueblood smiled, and simply said, "I don't expect it to be."

* * *

"So, you just need to press the clutch in, and then pull back on this lever here, and you've started the machine. Now, to put it in drive..."

Pumpkin Cake sat in the Apple Family barn, which had been converted into a makeshift schoolhouse in the week since the Second Kingdom had taken over Ponyville. Lanterns had been hung from the ceiling, so it was no longer pitch dark.

However, Pumpkin was finding it hard to concentrate in class. She still could not get the images of her mother dying out of her mind. She couldn't forget her screaming. She couldn't forget Pound's offer to go to Cloudsdale with him. She almost wished she had. It had been her only chance of escape, and she missed it.

She looked at the wall, and supposed that she could always just escape by turning it intangible and walking through. She certainly had no reason to stay, the threat of death to her family having been rendered hollow by their actual death, or, in Pound's case, their inaccessibility to the unicorns.

However, one simple fact prevented her from escaping… she could not use the spell on her own body. If she could, that would make escape a rather easy prospect. Any bullets fired at her by guards would just whiz right through her. They couldn't grab her with their magic, since there would be nothing to grab.

But since she couldn't use the spell on herself, if she tried to escape, she risked getting shot or just captured again. After seeing what her mother went through, bleeding to death in pain on the ground after Pound had left, getting shot wasn't something she wanted to risk.

"Miss Cake?"

She had _tried_ the spell on herself a few times before, but it had simply never worked. The reason for this escaped her. The spell had worked on animals when she tried it on them, even for fairly large ones like dogs. She had never tried it on another pony, but figured it would work on them, too. Maybe it just wouldn't work on her, since she was the one casting it to begin with. But that didn't seem right, either. Other spells could work on oneself, like teleportation or levitation. There was no reason that she could think of that it would be impossible to use an intangibility spell on herself. And yet she could not. So she was entirely trapped, unable to escape.

"_Miss Cake!_"

Pumpkin's head shot up as Trixie frowned at her.

"I asked you a question. What do you do in the event of your tractor stalling?"

"Uh…" she answered, "Call a mechanic?"

"No, you try starting it up again, then you check the engine, and if neither of those things work, _then_ you call a mechanic. You really must pay attention. See me after class, Ms. Cake."

* * *

The bell rang and the students sauntered out the barn door. They were allowed a few minutes of recess, but were not allowed outside of Sweet Apple Acres. Since the Cake family had attempted their rescue of Pumpkin, security had been tightened; one of the unicorn wizards had cast a force field over Sweet Apple Acres to both keep the unicorn fillies and colts in, and to keep any of their parents out.

Since it covered so large an area, it was a rather weak force field which could be shattered by a half dozen or so well-placed bucks from a strong pony, or with a few dozen bullets. But, if it were broken, that would serve as an alarm to let the guards know that somepony had tried to break in or out.

Pumpkin Cake walked up to Trixie's desk. Trixie spoke, "Pumpkin Cake. I am a great and powerful figure in the Second Kingdom. I am the head of the Department of Magic. I sit at the council meetings of King Blueblood himself. Do you know what an honor it is for me to be teaching you and the others here?"

"No," said Pumpkin Cake.

"That would be like if the mayor of Ponyville took time out of her busy schedule to shine your horseshoes. I'm only going to be here a few weeks, and then I must get back to my magical research projects at the Department. If you miss out on your education while I am here, there is no second chance. This isn't like Ponyville Elementary where you can repeat a grade, so you'd better listen."

"Or what? You'll kill me?" Pumpkin Cake joked.

"No, I won't _personally_ kill you, but you _will_ starve to death. If you had been paying attention, you would know that you are responsible for your own food under the Kingdom's sharecropping system. We provide you the farm equipment and the land. In exchange, whatever you grow, the Kingdom keeps 99% of, and you may keep one percent. You may sell it for profit or eat it yourself. Which, if you grow an average amount, this will be just enough for you to make a comfortable living off of. Eventually, you may even be able to purchase your own land and equipment and turn a considerable profit. But if you _grow_ nothing, you will _eat_ nothing. We give you food now that you are learning, but will not give you food after the first growing season is complete."

"Oh."

"Now, Miss Cake, I know that your surrogates died trying to foolishly retrieve you from the custody of the Second Kingdom, but that's no reason to be upset or not pay attention in class. Your surrogates were not true parents; they were less evolved forms of life, and you as a unicorn made a step up the evolutionary chain. You should no more mourn for them than you do for the ancient _Ponyanderthals_ who came before you."

"But I knew my parents."

"You knew them, yes. But not in the same way as another unicorn. You knew them as you might know a pet, like a dog. They were familiar to you, but they could never love you in the way that a unicorn could. Tell me, could your parents communicate to you directly through thought alone?"

"Uh… no?" Pumpkin Cake asked, confused.

"Of course not. Only a unicorn may initiate such intimate connection. Allow me to demonstrate."

Trixie got out of her chair and walked around the desk towards Pumpkin Cake. Her horn glowed, and she leaned towards Pumpkin Cake. Pumpkin scooted her chair back.

"What?" Trixie asked. "There's nothing to be worried about. All this allows for is transfer. I can't read your mind or anything, if that's what you fear."

Trixie's horn glowed once more, and Pumpkin Cake found her horn responding in kind, involuntarily glowing, which got brighter as Trixie came in closer. Finally, when their horns were a quarter-meter apart, a magical arc raced between them, with an appearance closely matching a lightning bolt.

Suddenly, a flood of images came bursting into Pumpkin's mind. She saw fields of wheat, giant mechanized tractors the size of barns, as well as mechanized seeders and harvesters, with herself at the wheel. She saw a giant stack of bits, and a house of her own. It was a large house with a swimming pool and marble columns. She saw images of unicorn ponies sitting down at their dinner tables, eating corn and wheat which she had grown. They smiled at their delicious food.

Between all of these images, Trixie's thought-voice entered Pumpkin's mind. _"You are such a bright young pony. I can hear it in the way you talk. Do you see what your potential is? Do you see what you can do if you put your mind to it, apply yourself, and learn? You don't want your future to end up like this…"_

The images changed. Pumpkin saw an image of herself, living in a cardboard box by the side of the road, a cup floating in her magic as she begged passers-by for bits. She was coughing and sputtering black liquid everywhere. A blizzard blew furiously outside. But nopony would stop to help her. Eventually, she fell to the ground—

"No!" Pumpkin gasped as she jerked her head back, breaking the telepathic arc between them. Trixie's horn sputtered out, and she glanced up.

"What's the matter? Don't like that future? Then apply yourself."

Pumpkin shook in her seat, her eyes widened as she stared off into the distance in silence.

"You're dismissed," said Trixie, walking back towards her seat.

Pumpkin raced out to the yard, where the fillies and colts had gathered for recess. There was no playground equipment, so they simply ran around. Many of them sat around, too forlorn at the loss of their parents to do much physical activity. A few of them, though, played tag or threw balls.

Pumpkin Cake walked around, pacing. Poor, homeless, sick… she didn't want to end up like that. As much as she didn't think farming was her destiny, she still thought it was preferable to the future that Trixie showed her.

Pumpkin continued walking until she saw her friend.

"Hey, Sunrise Spring?" Pumpkin asked.

"Yeah?"

"Were you taking notes in class?"

"Of course." Sunrise Spring sighed, kicking her hoof in the dirt. "I don't want to starve, after all."

"Think I could copy them?"

"Sure, Pumpkin Cake."

* * *

"Alright, Pound Cake. This is Spitfire. She has agreed to look after you until we can find a permanent home for you."

Pound Cake walked into General Spitfire's office with Rainbow Dash, and they both sat down at the two chairs in front of her desk.

"Ah, you must be the kid that Rainbow Dash told me about. Nice to meet you. My name is General Spitfire, but you can just call me Spitfire."

They shook hooves.

"I don't expect you to call me 'mom' or anything like that. I never really wanted to be a parent, and I don't expect to ever replace the ones you lost. As I'm sure that Rainbow Dash has told you, this arrangement will be temporary until we can find you some true foster parents. But, since I have a spare room in my house, I'm more than happy to take you in until that point. You can crash at my place so that you're not homeless."

"Thank you, Spitfire." Pound smiled.

"No problem. I know the orphanages are all full because of the war, so I understand your lack of options. But, I do have to warn you… if the Second Kingdom decides to break the ceasefire, you'll have to find someplace else to stay, because I'll have to be out in the field commanding the troops. So I hope you understand that this is temporary."

"I know," Pound said.

"Good. Alright, I get off of work in about an hour, so you can go wait outside until I can come out and show you where you'll be staying."

Pound walked out into the hallway, sitting down on a bench. He twiddled his hooves together, stared up at the ceiling, and attempted to pass the time as best he could.

Whatever he tried to do, his thoughts continued to return to the reality of his life. His parents were both dead. Spitfire seemed like a nice enough pony, but like she said: she could never be a true mother to him.

* * *

The door to Spitfire's office opened and she stepped through, locking it behind her.

"Alright, kid. Let me show you to where you'll be staying."

She led him out the door of the base and out into the city. The day was unusually dim, as a partial solar eclipse diminished the light coming to Equestria. As per his word, Blueblood had not moved the moon from its place in the sky. Instead, it hung ominously over the city, cloaking it in a surreal shade.

"Okay, I live on the other side of town, so we have to fly for a bit before we get there. I do tend to fly a bit fast, so let me know if you need me to slow down," she said, taking off into the air. Pound joined her.

"That shouldn't be a problem," said Pound.

They flew off towards the other side of town, talking as they flew.

"So, kid, tell me a bit about yourself," said Spitfire.

"Oh, I used to live in Ponyville, and then the Second Kingdom invaded," said Pound, "So now I have to live here."

"Well yeah, I knew _that._ I mean, tell me something about _you._ Like, what makes you tick?" she asked, chuckling.

"Well, uh, I like flying," said Pound Cake.

"That's cool. I notice that you don't have your cutie mark yet. Any interests that you have? What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"No clue. Something involving flying, probably," he said.

"Ever thought of auditioning for the Wonderbolts?" asked Spitfire, momentarily turning her head towards Pound.

"Yeah, I have. That would be cool."

Spitfire smiled. "We're the best flyers in Equestria, and the most elite squadron of the Equestrian Air Force. I'm the captain. I'm also a general in the air force."

"Oh, neat," said Pound.

"Yep. It's a lot of responsibility, but also a lot of fun. But, you have years of school left until you can join. You gotta be at least fifteen to be in the Wonderbolts."

"I'm only nine."

"Yeah, well then you have some growing up to do," said Spitfire. "You also should train hard if you wanna get in, because the Wonderbolts take only the best."

"Will I get to fight the Second Kingdom?" asked Pound.

"If we're still at war with them, then yes," Spitfire laughed. "But I don't know. I forsee this war being over in a hurry. Blueblood's made a pretty severe tactical error."

Pound Cake glanced up at the moon. Spitfire saw him glancing, glanced up at the moon herself, then back at Pound.

"Oh, that? That's just a minor inconvenience." She smiled.

"But how will you stop it?"

"Well, we've been thinking about that," said Spitfire, "That's actually what I was working on today. We might just send all of the pegasi up there to try to lift the moon back up. It'll take a lot, but if we put everypony in the city on the task, along with the princesses, we should be able to get Cloudsdale out of harm's way. It'll happen soon."

"Soon? Why don't you do it now?" asked Pound.

"That's because we have a ceasefire with Blueblood. If we were to try to move the moon, that would break the ceasefire agreement."

"How much longer will that last?"

"Who knows? Whenever either side decides to break it. Equestria won't break it until we're sure that we can save Cloudsdale from the moon. Blueblood probably won't break it at all, since he's the one who asked for it in the first place since he was losing Ponyville."

"Why does he care about Ponyville so much?" asked Pound.

"Hmm," said Spitfire. She paused for a moment. "That's a question that I've been asking myself a lot. I don't know. Other than its central location in Equestria, the town holds little strategic value. He could afford to lose it and still be in good shape. But then he pulls this whole moon stunt, just as he's about to lose Ponyville. The moon idea is clever, but that's something that shows desperation, like a cornered animal. I don't understand it one bit."

"Does it have to do with them taking my sister?"

Spitfire turned to him puzzlingly. "Your sister? Who's she?"

"Pumpkin Cake."

"Is she a pegasus, too?"

"No, she's a unicorn."

"How are you related, then?" asked Spitfire.

"Our parents are both earth ponies. That's why they took her. The soldiers just asked her if mom and dad were her parents. When she said yes, that's when they took her to Sweet Apple Acres: that's the apple farm near Ponyville."

Spitfire stopped mid-flight. Pound continued to fly for a few moments, but then turned back around.

"Uh, Spitfire…"

Spitfire's eyes widened. She was obviously suppressing a grin.

"What is it?"

"Of course!" she shouted out, "Unicorn farm labor! That's why they need Ponyville. That's why they were holding all those fillies and colts hostage at the barn! Why didn't I see it before?"

"Huh?" asked Pound Cake.

Spitfire blushed. "Oh, what am I saying. You just lost your sister, and here I am making a big deal about it. I'm sorry. I won't-"

"No, tell me. I want to know why they took her," said Pound.

"Alright, I'll tell you. Follow me."

Spitfire continued to fly, but this time back towards the base. Pound followed by her side once more.

"You know how the Second Kingdom is just for unicorns, right?" Spitfire asked.

"Right," answered Pound.

"If you need earth pony magic to farm, and there's no earth ponies in the Second Kingdom, then who farms for them?"

"Uh, I guess no one," said Pound.

"Wrong. Unicorns _can_ grow crops, but only if they were born to earth pony parents. That's why they took your sister. They need her and others like her to farm for them."

"But how's she going to do that?" asked Pound.

"With machines. The unicorns have invented machines to do farm labor, and they used them back during the famine of 2014. When Equestria was still united, they used machines to grow crops around Canterlot."

"Then why do they need my sister?" asked Pound.

"Because, back during the famine, there were plenty of earth ponies in what is now the Second Kingdom, so they just ran the machines. Since they were earth ponies, it worked fine for them. But ever since the Second Kingdom broke away from Equestria and declared independence, they kicked out all the earth ponies."

"So where have they been getting their food?" asked Pound.

"Through trade with Equestria, and from the few earth-born unicorns living in the Second Kingdom who could get to farm for them," said Spitfire. "But they've been a huge food importer, and haven't been able to grow enough to feed themselves."

"But now that there's a war…" Pound started.

"Then trade's off the table. Our military planners have been scratching their heads wondering what Blueblood will do when the food runs out. He has enough to feed the population for maybe another year or two until they start to starve. That's one of the reasons that we don't think he poses a threat. But if he's kidnapping unicorn fillies and colts..."

"Then he'll have more food," said Pound.

"Exactly."

"Why doesn't he just move the unicorn fillies and colts out of Ponyville?" asked Pound.

"He hasn't had the time. The war's only been going on for four days, and one of them has been during the ceasefire. Canterlot is a good day's journey on hoof. Plus, he might not even know that we suspect that this is his plan."

They reached the military compound.

"Pound, wait here."

Spitfire flew inside and into the office, where she radioed the top military brass for an urgent meeting.

The officers gathered around the table thirty minutes later.

"Officers," she said, "I believe I've found the Second Kingdom's ultimate weakness."


	6. Slipping Away

"I met a young pegasus who was on the ground in Ponyville during the invasion. He gave me a good piece of intelligence, and it sheds light on why Blueblood wanted this cease-fire."

"Because he was losing Ponyville," answered a General who sat at the military council table.

"Yes, but why was Ponyville important to him? Important enough to sign a ceasefire, and by doing so, show weakness?" asked Spitfire.

Nopony answered.

Spitfire continued, "The Second Kingdom has gathered all of the unicorn fillies and colts with earth pony parents that they could find. They're all held captive right here in this barn. The Second Kingdom has surrounded the area with a force field."

Spitfire motioned towards a map of Ponyville and pointed towards Sweet Apple Acres.

"The hostages from the invasion? They were unicorn children?" asked a sergeant.

"Yes," Spitfire answered. "We just didn't know it at the time. They need these young fillies and colts to farm for them, and to grow their food. Otherwise, the Second Kingdom has no way of feeding themselves. That's why Ponyville has such strategic value to them, and why they attacked it first: there's a lot of earth-born unicorns there."

"Interesting theory, General Spitfire," said a blue-coated pegasus sergeant, "but how do we know that the unicorn children are still inside of this barn? They could have easily been moved since the cease-fire was signed. Blueblood would be better served to move them to a more defensible location."

"Well, Soarin," Spitfire responded, "That's the urgency here. Blueblood saw that he was losing Ponyville, and he didn't want to lose these children when he found that the town surrounded. So, he brought down the moon over Cloudsdale and demanded a cease-fire, to give himself more time to move them. Once they are out of reach of our army, Blueblood no longer needs Ponyville, and he can afford to lose it. Then, that moon will come crashing down, and the war will resume. Since the moon is still up there, it tells me that the children haven't yet been moved."

"But he's had nearly a day to do it," said Soarin. "Why is he taking his time?"

"He probably doesn't expect us to break the cease-fire, because the moon is right overhead and he knows we don't yet have the ability to stop it. There are also likely over a hundred unicorn children. Blueblood doesn't know that we are onto him, so he wants to keep this farming scheme a secret. Moving dozens of unicorn foals away from Ponyville at once would attract the attention of our spies. He'll probably move them just a few at a time."

"So you think this is a secret operation?" asked a lieutenant.

"Yes. Because if we did know about it, it could put the entire future food supply of the Second Kingdom in jeopardy. Only a few ponies likely know about it," answered Spitfire. "The parents and siblings of the kidnapped unicorns would know, like the pegasus that I met, but they wouldn't know _why_."

"So what do we do with this knowledge?" asked Soarin.

"We tell Blueblood that we know about his plan," said Spitfire. "We let him know that if he drops the moon on us, we'll save the unicorn children from him, depriving the Second Kingdom of its food source."

* * *

Around a table in the capitol building in Canterlot, King Blueblood, one of his generals, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and General Spitfire sat.

"So, what brings you back to the negotiating table?" Blueblood asked.

"We are here to elaborate on the terms of the cease fire, to make sure that we are both clear what it entails," said Twilight.

"I'm listening," said Blueblood.

"We know about your food shortage. We also know about those unicorns at the barn," answered Spitfire.

Blueblood flinched. Spitfire smiled.

"Yes, we know about your little kidnapping spree," said Spitfire, "And, as I recall, the terms of the cease-fire were that neither side could move any military resources. That's why the moon still hangs above Cloudsdale, yes?"

"...Yes." Blueblood answered after some time.

"Well, if you were to move any of those unicorn fillies and colts out from behind that force field and away from Ponyville, that would, in our eyes, violate the cease-fire agreement. If the cease-fire is broken, we'll rescue these unicorns with as many troops as it takes to get them," said Spitfire.

"And don't think of moving more troops to guard that barn," said Twilight. "That would be a violation as well. Only leave the ones you currently have. We will know if you violate these terms. Sweet Apple Acres is right on the edge of the territory you control, so we can easily see troop movements."

"Alright," said King Blueblood. "The unicorn children will stay where they are. But just know that getting them away from us alive will be a harder proposition than you think."

"Alive or dead, we'll make the rescue attempt. Either alternative is preferable to a life in servitude to you and your kingdom," said Twilight.

Blueblood said, "Very well. I won't risk their safety by moving them."

* * *

November 2020

"Our newest economic figures aren't good at all."

Flam floated a sheet of paper over towards Blueblood. There were many graphs on the paper, all of them trending downward or remaining flat. Blueblood scanned his eyes over the graphs, frowning.

"I don't understand," replied Blueblood.

"Well, we _would_ be getting an economic boost from war production, if that the war were actually still going on instead of in a ceasefire," said Flim.

"We also are facing increasing food shortages, as you're well aware," Flam added.

"Can't the zebra empire pick up production?" asked Blueblood.

"They're involved in their own war with the griffons," said Flam. "Their war has disrupted their crops."

"The Department of Magical Purity is working on bringing in laborers to supply the kingdom with food," said Trixie. "I have about 120 of the young unicorns. Once we get them trained, we can bring them to the farmlands up north—"

"That won't be possible anymore," said Prince Blueblood. "Not without starting up the war again. The Equestrians are onto our plan and have threatened to attack us should we move them."

"Well, can we at least have them grow food on the farm that they are already staying at?" asked Trixie.

"That shouldn't be a problem," answered Blueblood.

"Well, then we might be able to get 10% of the output we could get if they had more land to work. I guess it's better than nothing," said Trixie. "Though I do wonder how the Equestrians found out about the unicorn fillies and colts that we were holding at Sweet Apple Acres."

"Considering that we threw down all of our cards on the table over a simple small town, it's no surprise they figured it out," Fancy Pants chuckled. "The moon gambit was the wartime equivalent of trimming your hedges when your house is on fire."

Blueblood glared at him. Fancy Pants shrunk back in his chair and said, "I told you that it wouldn't be a wise move."

The grey-coated unicorn general who commanded the armed forces spoke. "Either way, we have less of an advantage that we thought that we did. They've shown over the last week that their pegasi can easily take out our planes and attack our ground positions with ease. Magic or no, without a good air strategy, we're sitting ducks."

"Any progress on a flight spell, Trixie?" asked Blueblood. "Or, for that matter, any other magical developments?"

"None that look promising," Trixie responded. "Though we will do it soon. I'm sure that within the next few years, we'll find a new spell that will fundamentally alter the nature of warfare. Whether it's flight, indestructible force fields, or something else. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if we came up with something in a few _months!_"

Blueblood rolled his eyes, as he had heard Trixie say "a few months" half a year ago. However, he knew that she would come up with something eventually, but probably a lot later than she would claim.

Flim spoke. "As your economic advisors, my brother and I advise you to bring back the unicorn fillies and colts as soon as possible, and get them farming. Given the food shortages that we've seen, anything will help. Ponies are already complaining about the bread lines."

"I wouldn't advise breaking the cease-fire," said the General. "Not unless you're prepared for heavy casualties."

Blueblood remained silent for several moments.

"What about a peace treaty?" asked Fancy Pants. "That will solve the food shortages by allowing trade with Equestria."

"Not possible," said the General, "The Equestrians were adamant about getting all of their land back, including Canterlot. A peace treaty won't work unless we're winning. We're in a draw at best."

"I wouldn't do it, anyway," said King Blueblood. "A peace treaty would be admitting defeat. I refuse allowing our unicorn empire to be weak in the face of the lesser races."

"Then what will we do?" asked Trixie.

Blueblood remained silent for a few moments. Finally, he spoke.

"Though it may not seem so, time is on our side. It's true that every day that we don't act, the food grows scarcer, and our food reserves are slipping away. But, every day we don't act, we develop new magic, new technology, and recruit new ponies for the army. Every day the cease-fire is in effect, the moon still hovers ominously above Cloudsdale, terrorizing the residents of the city, the pegasi troops, and all of Equestria.

"Through this act, we have challenged their faith in the princesses to keep them safe. For eons, the princesses have had a monopoly on control over the celestial bodies. With this single act, the Second Kingdom has shattered this notion and shown that we as a kingdom are just as powerful as them, if not more so. Every day the moon is up there and remains unmoved, the Equestrian citizens' faith in the princesses is slowly slipping away. Never underestimate the psychological component of warfare."

"Well, in that case, we just have to hope that their faith in the princesses slips away faster than our food," said Fancy Pants.

Blueblood grinned.

"I'm counting on it."

* * *

May 2021

Several months had passed since the cease-fire was signed. Now ten-year-old Pumpkin Cake's eyes opened from her restless sleep as the rooster crowed, waking her from her bunk in the Sweet Apple Acres barn.

"Up and awake! Over to the machines!"

A maroon-coated unicorn stallion shouted at the fillies and colts as they got out of their bunks.

Pumpkin sighed as she descended the ladder from the bunk and reached the floor. She filed outside along with the other fillies and colts.

Sweet Apple Acres retained its status in name only. The apple trees had all been cut down and were being replaced with wheat, corn, and other crops which could be farmed by machine.

The one hundred and twenty unicorns each took turns on a few dozen machines, gaining experience in operating the farming equipment. Sweet Apple Acres, they were told, was simply for practice until they moved to their real home in the Flatlands north of Canterlot. There, they would have far more land to farm, more work to do, and each unicorn would have his own machines to use.

Today was Pumpkin Cake's turn on the tractor. She walked over to one of the behemoths and climbed on, shoveling a load of coal into the furnace and turning the key in the ignition as the tractor roared to life. In a minute, she was driving the tractor across the fields, plowing them to prepare them for seeds.

Though not as intense as manual labor, it was still quite an arduous task to operate the tractor. For one, she had to shovel loads of coal into it every now and then to get it to work. Also, the hot sun beat down on her mane, drenching her with sweat. Even with the partial solar eclipse due to the moon over Cloudsdale, the heat was still brutal. Additionally, steering the tractor took a fair bit of effort.

She focused her telekinesis on the wheel, making sure to maintain a straight row as the tractor plowed along. After a long day at this, her horn would be quite tired and achy.

But the labor was not the worst part. Such monotonous work meant that muscle memory took over, and Pumpkin's mind was free to focus on other things… such as the death of her parents, whether her brother was okay, or the moon which hung above Cloudsdale. She was aware of the cease-fire, having overheard the guards talking about it, and knew that at any moment, the war could resume.

The only times when she got solace from these burning questions was during sleep, but even that was no guarantee. Some nights were full of horrifying nightmares. Some nights were not as bad as nightmares, but still brought fears and doubts. Other nights she would have good dreams in which she was reunited with her family once more… only to be hit with the cold hard reality upon waking. Her favorites were the dreams which were nonsensical and had nothing to do with her current predicament. Those dreams took her mind off of her life, but were unfortunately rare.

Pumpkin gazed off to the seemingly endless rows of crops. At the end, she could see the giant force field which the unicorn magicians had erected. Since it was spread out over so large an area, it could easily be broken, but that would of course alert the guards, who would teleport over to the broken area of the force field within seconds.

She figured that she could just use her magic to walk right through the force field without alerting the guards, and had in fact spent many hours over the last few months contemplating that very thing. The only thing holding her back was her fear of what would happen to her if she were caught. They would want to know how she escaped. They would discover her power, and they would undoubtedly attempt to exploit it for the Second Kingdom's war effort.

They might make her come with them on some war mission to penetrate some bunker.

"_Just turn the walls intangible, and we can walk right in there and kill them all!_" She could almost hear them saying. Or "_Just use the spell on us and we'll be invincible to them and their bullets!_"

She refused to be party to some one-sided slaughter. She could refuse, of course, but then they would torture her, and she also refused to put herself into a situation in which she may be tortured. All, of course, for the glory of the master race.

Pumpkin Cake had not entirely bought into the notion of unicorn supremacy, but did find some of the philosophy at least somewhat plausible. Over the past months, the equality of the races started to seem to her to be about as silly of an idea. If the unicorns indeed were equal to the other pony races, how could so few unicorns hold such a large continent hostage? Less than a third of ponies were unicorns, after all.

She glanced up at the sky and saw the moon. How could the princesses not stop it? How could the pegasi or the earth ponies not stop it? If superiority were defined by the ability to hold power over others, then the unicorns would win hooves down, she figured.

But, of course, if superiority were defined by honor, integrity, trust, love, and other virtues of ponykind, the unicorns were no better than the other pony races. If Blueblood were held up as a shining example of unicorndom, the unicorns would actually pale in comparison to the other pony races.

_But trust and love don't decide what gets done,_ she thought.

She reached the end of the row, right next to the force field. She stopped the tractor.

_But I_ actually do _have power. I can put an end to this nightmare. I can wake up._

Pumpkin Cake glanced around. There were no ponies around for as far as she could see.

She looked at the thin, translucent barrier standing between her and freedom. It might as well have been an annoying gnat to be swatted away. Pumpkin jumped off of the tractor. She walked right up to the barrier until she was a hair's breadth away from it.

Her heart pounded in her chest. She was worried that somehow, a guard would know and instantly come teleporting over, holding a gun up to her head.

She powered up her horn.

Maybe she should go back. After all, she didn't want to be captured and forced to fight for the Second Kingdom. She couldn't stand the thought of—

Almost involuntarily, a segment of the force field glowed blue, just large enough for her to pass through.

Her heart continued to pound, but for a different reason; the fear had made way for a sense of overwhelming power. The sensation was a welcome change from the depression and weakness which had dominated her mind over the last many months. She grinned.

Pumpkin Cake reached her hoof towards the force field, sticking it through to the other side. She set her hoof on the ground. She moved the other three, and in a moment, she was completely outside the force field.

She powered down her horn, and the force field returned to normal. None of the guards came. Nopony would ever know how she did it.

She smiled from ear to ear as she continued onward, slipping away from Sweet Apple Acres.

* * *

In Cloudsdale, Pound Cake had fared only slightly better than his sister. Unlike Pumpkin, he had school to attend, books to read, and other things to keep his mind off of his predicament. Howewver, in school, he often disrupted class or was aggressive towards his classmates. He often received detention for getting into fights. However, he didn't have his mind invaded by one of his teachers like his sister.

Spitfire had been able to spend more time with Pound Cake than she had predicted, as the truce had continued for longer than anypony had expected. So, he had at least a small sense of family.

But also unlike Pumpkin, Pound dealt with the stresses of living in Cloudsdale. The moon still hung overhead like a heavy glass chandelier suspended from the ceiling by a thin piece of cheese-flavored twine... with a hungry rat on top.

"Now, the second that you see that moon start to fall, I want you to push through the clouds and head down towards the earth," Spitfire had told him. "I'll meet you in the Hoofington town square."

Pound had nodded, hoping against hope that he would never have to abandon his new home.

He and Spitfire, like the other residents of Cloudsdale who had chosen not to evacuate, lived on constant pins and needles.

Pound would jolt out of bed most nights, fearing that the worst had happened and the moon had started to fall. He would rush over to his bedroom window and gaze up at the sky… only to see that it had just been a dream and the moon was still the same distance it had been before.

Other nights, he would awake screaming… over the loss of his parents. He still blamed himself for their deaths, and was taking it a lot harder than his sister. Spitfire had gotten him into counselling, and had tried her best to comfort him herself, as inexperienced in raising children as she was.

Of course, Pound was not the only one to have such night terrors or other psychological issues. Even the adult ponies in Cloudsdale had fared little better. Those who had no place else to go, who had homes in Cloudsdale and no relatives to stay with elsewhere, also faced the constant stress of living under the moon.

One such pony, Lightning Dust, had ironically just finished reconstructing her home after the wendigos destroyed it a few years back in the Wendigo wars. Needless to say, she was not eager to leave her home.

One day, she sat inside her home with her friends Thunderlane, Flitter, and Cloud Chaser.

"So, I was at work today, right?" Thunderlane said, rolling his eyes and frowning. "And my boss says that I gotta file all this paperwork and stay overtime to do it."

"That's a bummer," said Lightning Dust, taking a drag off of a cigarette.

"Like, what, he wants to get it done quickly so that it'll be organized in time for the moon to crash down and wreck it all?" Thunderlane joked.

They all chuckled.

"Well, Cloud Chaser and I have just been managing the weather," said Flitter.

"At least, the weather on the Equestrian side," Cloud Chaser added.

"How do they even control the weather in the Second Kingdom?" asked Thunderlane. "No pegasi, right?"

"I think they use either magic or airplanes when they can, and just let nature run its course when they can't," said Flitter.

"Well, either way, they're trying to live with only unicorns. What even made them want to do that, anyway?" asked Cloud Chaser.

Thunderlane said, "Who knows. I don't keep up with politics. I will say that it's weird. Like, Equestria used to be this really peaceful country not even twelve years ago. But then we had Nightmare Moon, then Discord, then the Changelings, then Discord again, then the Wendigos, then the sarin gas attack in Canterlot, then the riots, then the Second Kingdom seceded."

"Well, then it was quiet for four years," said Cloud Chaser.

"Yeah, kinda lulled us into a false sense of security," Flitter chuckled.

"Yup," muttered Lightning Dust, exhaling smoke.

"But then," Thunderlane continued, "the Second Kingdom just up and declares war, takes Ponyville, threatens to destroy Cloudsdale, and now we've been in a ceasefire for seven months, and now who knows what's gonna happen."

"Mmhmm," said Flitter and Cloud Chaser.

"Hey, you're being awful quiet over there, Lightning Dust," said Cloud Chaser.

"Yeah, what's up?" asked Flitter.

"Just thinking, is all," Lightning Dust answered, taking another drag off of her cigarette.

"You know those are bad for you, right?" asked Flitter, eyeing Lightning Dust's cigarette.

"Eh, whatever," Lightning Dust scoffed. "Not like I'll live long enough for smoking to kill me. None of us will. Everything will just turn… to dust." She stubbed out the cigarette in the ashtray.

"Was that supposed to be a pun on your name or something?" asked Thunderlane.

"No, just a hard reality," said Lightning Dust. "The Wendigoes destroyed my home four years ago. Just last year, I rebuilt it. And now, the moon will fall as sure as I'm sitting here, and leave me homeless again. And to think that I was upset when the Wonderbolts kicked me out so many years ago. That was peanuts compared to what I've faced since then."

Lightning Dust chuckled nervously, walked over to the window, and gazed out, looking up at the moon.

"You know why your boss had you do paperwork, Thunderlane? Normalcy. He wants to feel like he's in control of something, that something being you, because it gives him a sense of normalcy despite everything that's happening. Like everything is okay and we don't have this giant rock hanging over us. But it's fantasy. I can just see it now. My home, my life, even my sanity… after the moon hits, just slipping away…"

A tear fell down her cheek.

"And I just wanna find some way to end this. I just have this sliver of hope that…" she sobbed, "That somehow, against all odds, things will turn out okay for Cloudsdale. That we can live normal lives, no matter what happens down on the ground."

Her friends walked over to her and gave her a hug.

"I think we all feel that way right now," said Thunderlane. Flitter and Cloud Chaser nodded their heads in silent agreement.


	7. The Mentors

Pound Cake screamed as he woke up once more, thrashing and ripping the sheets from off his sweaty body.

"No!" he shouted. "Not again!"

He opened his eyes and realized that he was back in his bed in Spitfire's house.

His door slammed open as Spitfire burst in. "Pound Cake? What's up?"

"I'm having nightmares again," said Pound Cake.

"More bad dreams about your parents?"

Pound Cake silently nodded.

"Well, I'm sorry, buddy," said Spitfire. "Hey, why don't you try to go back to sleep and we can talk about it in the morning?"

"What if the nightmares come back?"

"Well, I'll sleep right here by your side," said Spitfire. She got into bed next to Pound Cake and they fell asleep.

Thankfully, his nightmares did not return. He awoke and went to the kitchen, and found that Spitfire had fixed him toast and eggs for breakfast.

Like most of the meals that she had tried to make him, this one was badly burnt, but he appreciated that she was trying. He grabbed a knife in his hoof and scraped the burnt residue off of his toast.

"Heh, sorry about that," said Spitfire.

"It's okay. You know, you don't even have to cook for me. I'll just eat some cereal or something."

"But I want to make sure that you have a good breakfast and don't have to eat cereal every morning," said Spitfire.

"Well, thanks," said Pound.

"Now, let's talk some more about your nightmares. What has your therapist told you about it?"

"She's told me that I need to let go and move on. She said I can't blame myself for their deaths: that it wasn't my fault. But… I mean, how can I _not_ blame myself?"

"I don't know, Pound; you've never told me," said Spitfire. Pound hadn't been able to tell anypony what happened. There was too much guilt there.

"Well, my sister, Pumpkin, was taken by the Second Kingdom and put into a barn."

"Yes, I know that part."

"What you don't know is that we tried to rescue her from them, and that I messed it all up," said Pound.

"How did you mess it up?" asked Spitfire.

"Well, we were going to sneak Pumpkin Cake out in a barrel. My mother had gotten into the barn because we told them we were delivering pies. My dad had a rifle that he fired at the side of the barn to lure the guards away. But then, as I was up in the air, I heard a bunch of screaming. The other fillies and colts in the barn were making noise. One of the guards came back. I saw him lift up a rifle and point it inside the barn."

"So he was about to shoot your mother?" Spitfire asked. "How can you blame yourself—"

"No, you don't understand. He _wasn't_ about to shoot her. I dive-bombed down at him, and then right as I hit him, I heard him say 'carry on then.' I hit him, and it made him shoot Mommy."

"Oh."

"And then another guard came in, saw us, and then he shot her again, in the stomach, and it killed her."

"Well…" said Spitfire.

"My mom told me to go back to the bakery, but I didn't. I wanted to help, but I ruined the plan."

Spitfire paused for a moment, looking off into space. Then, she looked back at Pound Cake.

"Pound," Spitfire said gently, "Your therapist is right. You need to move on. You don't need to let their deaths hold you back or make you depressed."

"Yeah," said Pound.

"But, I disagree with her that it wasn't your fault. It _was_ your fault. If you had obeyed your mother's orders, then she wouldn't have died. The guard would have walked away without shooting her. Your rash decision caused her death."

Pound blinked. Tears formed in his eyes as he realized that Spitfire was right. He finally acknowledged the truth he had hid from himself for so long..

Spitfire continued, "I say that not because I want you to beat yourself up over it, but because I want you to learn from it. I love you, Pound."

Pound smiled. She had never told him that before.

"But part of love is honestly. I _could_ sugar-coat it like your psychologist does, and lie to you and tell you that your recklessness was okay and had nothing to do with your mother's death, but that won't help you at all. Your mind knows that there's a contradiction, and won't accept lies. That's why you're still having night terrors.

"What _will_ help you is to learn from your mistake and move on, don't beat yourself up over it, and become a stronger pony for it."

"But how can I do that?" asked Pound Cake.

"I can help you. I can teach you. You'll get over your guilt by getting over what caused her death: your impulsiveness. You have a streak of rashness; I see it in you. Do you know how I see it?"

"How?" he asked.

"Because I'm just like you. I have a reckless streak myself. Why do you think I'm named Spitfire?"

"Because your mane looks like it's on fire?" asked Pound.

"That's part of it, and my name does have a double-meaning," Spitfire chuckled. "But I'm also very short-tempered. I get excited easily. Back when I was your age, I'd mouth off to my teachers and end up in detention, just like you. I used to get into fights with ponies at school, just like you. I pulled crazy flight stunts that almost got me killed, just like you. But do you know what I did?"

"What?" asked Pound.

"I learned to control it. I learned discipline. In fact, I learned it so well that I'm now one of the greatest flyers in Equestria, the captain of the Wonderbolts, and a general in the Equestrian air force."

"Wow."

"Wow is right," said Spitfire, smiling. "You said that you wanted to be a great flyer, and that you might want to join the Wonderbolts someday. Well, you may be a decent flyer. You're good at keeping up with me when we fly around town. But most of the flight tricks and advanced techniques come with years of training and practice.

"You need discipline in order to train your wings and your body every day for years. You need discipline to fly as fast as I can, to maneuver in-between enemies and buildings at a hundred miles an hour. You also need discipline to follow orders, and more importantly, to know when the correct time is to strike during combat. If you want to be in the Wonderbolts, you have to follow orders.

"If you can't follow orders, you can't join. I kicked out a young mare named Lightning Dust years ago because she was like you are now: too rash and too reckless. You can be like her, or you can be like me. I'm not your real mother, so I won't force you to do anything. But, if you want me to, I can teach you discipline, and I can teach you everything about flying that I know. I can make you into a stallion."

Pound Cake said, "I want to be disciplined."

Spitfire smiled. "Good. Then your first lesson starts immediately."

She grabbed another piece of burnt toast out of the toaster and gave it to Pound.

"I'm not hungry," said Pound.

"Eat it anyways. You need the energy for flying. At the end of the day, you'll be exhausted."

Pound grabbed the knife and started to scrape the burnt residue off of the toast, but Spitfire grabbed the knife back from him and placed it on the counter.

"No time for that. Eat it how it is. You think the Wonderbolts or the Equestrian Air Force serve tasty food all the time? Nope. Most of it's just grade-D slop that not even hogs will eat."

Pound forced the burnt toast down his throat.

"Good. Now, we're going out into the yard. But first, I need to grab something."

Spitfire dashed out of the kitchen, leaving Pound by himself. She returned a few moments later, carrying a giant cement block in her hooves.

Pound looked at her quizzically. "What's that for?"

Spitfire grinned. "I'll tell you when we get into the yard. Here, catch."

Spitfire tossed the block to Pound, who tried to hold it in his hooves, but ended up dropping it.

"Wow. That's heavy."

"Yep. And you're going to carry it right out into the center of the yard."

Pound grabbed onto the block with all four of his hooves, and vigorously flapped his wings as he struggled to move forward. Spitfire opened the glass door in front of him, and he continued outside, slowly inching along. Finally, he was in the center of the yard. He set the cement block down on the clouds. Surprisingly, it didn't fall through the clouds.

Spitfire glanced up from her stopwatch. "When I get through with you, you'll be carrying that block from the kitchen and out here in five seconds."

Pound's jaw dropped in disbelief.

"Now, I want you to drop to the ground and give me twenty wing push-ups, and twenty hoof push-ups."

"But that's forty—"

"Did I stutter?"

Pound dropped to the ground and did as he was told. Several minutes later, he finished his last push-up, dropping back to the ground with a thud, exhausted.

"Now. I want you to fly up into the air until I tell you to stop."

Pound picked himself up on the ground, and flapped his tired wings until he was a hundred meters off the ground. Spitfire flew up to join him.

"Now, you were wondering what that cement block is for?"

"Yes."

"You will fly down and break it."

"What!?" Pound Cake said. "But that's impossible! Not even an earth pony could break that block! I'd break every bone in my body before I—"

Spitfire dashed downward towards the cloud on which the block stood. Pound heard an incredible crack as the concrete block split right in two. A shockwave emanated from the block, pushing him back a bit in the air.

His jaw dropped as words escaped him. Spitfire dashed back up to Pound.

"When I get done with you," she said, "You will break that block."

* * *

Pumpkin Cake was ecstatic as she walked down the street towards Ponyville. She felt lighter than air. Her head was spinning. She had done it. She'd escaped from the ponies who had held her captive for the past six months.

And she didn't have a clue where she would go.

Pumpkin Cake stopped in her tracks as she saw two unicorn soldiers off in the distance. She saw some bushes on the side of the path and jumped in them, concealing herself. The soldiers passed by without noticing her.

Relieved, she emerged from the bushes once more. She continued towards the town, but stopped. She saw hundreds of tents off in the distance, set up all around Ponyville. The town was crawling with Second Kingdom forces. If she went into town, she'd be spotted for sure.

Pumpkin glanced back away from the trail. She figured that her best bet would be to hide in the woods. Where she would go from there, she had no idea. Preferably to someplace not under Second Kingdom control.

Pumpkin continued in the woods for several hours until she became quite lost. The canopy of the trees blackened the sky, and she could hardly see in front of her. She shuddered to think what the forest would be like at night.

Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks as she noticed a blue flower on the path in front of her. Then, she recalled a story that Pinkie Pie had told her about a mischievous flower with blue leaves called poison joke which only grew in the Everfree Forest.

Pumpkin's head jolted up. She was in the Everfree Forest, one of the most dangerous places in Equestria. She didn't even realize how she had gotten there.

"Awoooo!"

Pumpkin Cake heard howling off in the distance. She continued walking, avoiding the poison joke, and looking for someplace to stay where she would be safe from the timberwolves.

"Awoooooooo!"

The howling became closer. Her mane stood on end. She jogged at a brisk pace, hoping that she would find a cave to hide in or a tree that looked like she could climb it. But all of the trees that she saw looked like their branches were too brittle, or were covered in fire ants, deadly spiders, or poison ivy.

"Awoooooooooooooo!"

The howling was so loud that it shook her bones. She turned around and discovered, to her horror, that she could see a timberwolf off in the distance, and it was coming towards her.

"Aaaaah!" This time, Pumpkin Cake did scream, not caring who heard it. She sprinted away, running through trees and vines and bushes to get away from the wolf.

She could hear the wolf tearing through the bushes and trees to get to her. For a moment, she thought that she might be doomed. However, she found that she could see a small hut off in the distance.

"Thank Celestia!" she exclaimed. She continued sprinting towards the cottage, navigating her way through trees and bushes as fast as she could. However, just as she was a few dozen meters away from the hut, she tripped and fell on a vine.

"Oof!" she grunted as she fell head first into the dirt. She stood to get back up, but noticed that the vine was now entangled around her body. The vine wrapped around her, constricting her as if it were an animal.

She could see the wolf closing in on her. Thinking quickly, she cast an intangibility spell on the vine and freed herself from it. However, in the time it took her to get back onto her hooves, the timberwolf had already arrived.

"Awooo!" the wolf cried, coming to a halt and swatting at Pumpkin Cake with a claw. She yelped in pain as it left a deep gash in her side.

She focused her horn on the wolf, trying to turn it intangible. Due to the wolf's size, the spell worked for just a few moments before wearing off, but that was all the time she needed to run away and get a head start on the now incredibly confused wolf.

She made a mad dash towards the cottage, and the wolf, solid once again, regained his bearings and dashed after her.

Pumpkin's horn powered up as she ran right through the wall of the hut. She quickly powered her horn down as the wolf slammed into the now-solid wall.

The timberwolf yelped in pain. Pumpkin Cake could hear scratching at the wall as the confused wolf tried to get through the wall in vain.

Pumpkin giggled, and then winced in pain from her scratch. Suddenly, she heard hoofsteps. She froze in place as she saw a shadow from around the corner.

Zecora rounded the corner, and her eyes widened in shock as she saw Pumpkin Cake.

"Pumpkin Cake, my dear. How in Equestria did you get in here? All of my doors are locked, and I did not hear you knock. My windows are still closed, yet you are here as if you are a ghost."

"Oh, hi, Zecora. I didn't know you lived in this hut," said Pumpkin Cake. She knew Zecora from having seen her around Ponyville. The two of them had talked a few times before.

"Uh, let me take a rest for a minute, and then I'll tell you everything," said Pumpkin Cake. Zecora nodded, and they both sat down in her living room. Zecora fixed a pot of tea, and they both drank. After about ten minutes or so, Pumpkin spoke.

"To answer you, how I got in here: I can walk through walls. There was a timberwolf chasing me, so I just came in here by turning the wall intangible."

"Is that so? How is it I didn't know?"

"I don't really go around telling ponies about my intangibility spell. I hardly ever use it, either. Especially now that the Second Kingdom is around. If they knew I had this power, they might try to get me to use it to help them. So could you please keep it a secret?"

Zecora nodded. "Yes. As a secret, it is wise to bear. From what I hear, your spell is rare."

"That's what Twilight told me. You know, it's funny. I never had much use for the spell before the Second Kingdom came. I mostly just used it to play hide and seek with Pound. But today, after I escaped from them, I've been using it like crazy."

"Speaking of your brother Pound. When I come into town, why do I not see him around?"

Pumpkin blushed. "Well, he left Ponyville… I _could_ have gone with him, but I didn't. Both of our parents died. I was worried about who would take care of us. I was worried I'd be killed, or that he would. I guess I was too scared."

Zecora raised an eyebrow. "Scared, with a power like the one you have? Being scared would be plain mad! Nothing on this entire earth could hurt you; with your spell it would pass right through."

"Well, it has limits."

"Tell me," Zecora said.

"Well, I can use it on anything… but myself. So I can still be shot, or scratched."

She showed Zecora the scratch. Zecora grabbed a bandage and applied it to the scratch. Thankfully, it was just a surface scratch, and would heal quickly.

Pumpkin continued, "Also, it doesn't work for very long on big things, like the timberwolf. I could only use it on him for maybe five seconds."

"I see," Zecora replied.

"So really, the power's not as useful as you'd guess," said Pumpkin.

Zecora laughed. Pumpkin raised her eyebrow.

"You talk down your power, which is not wise to do. Your power has only one limit: you. Like all things, it must be trained. Then you will be less afraid."

"So, you mean that if I wanted to, if I really practiced, I could do things like turn myself intangible just like I do everything else? That I could make my spell last longer on large things like wolves or other ponies?"

"That, and very much more. You have no idea what you have in store."

Pumpkin's eyes lit up. "Can you teach me?"

Zecora chuckled. "I thought you'd never ask! Let us train; and we start with a simple task."

Zecora motioned for Pumpkin Cake to follow her. Zecora walked off to a different room of the cottage. She opened a door, and motioned for Pumpkin to walk in. The room was mostly barren, with only a few pieces of furniture. It was large and circular, about eight meters in diameter. There was a stool in the middle of the room, which Zecora motioned towards. Pumpkin sat down in the stool as Zecora reached into a cupboard and grabbed a bottle with her hoof. The bottle was several liters in size, and filled with a blue liquid.

"Now, in this room here, you will face your fear," said Zecora.

"Face my fear? What do you mean?"

Zecora walked around the room, splashed the liquid everywhere around the room besides on Pumpkin Cake, then walked over to the door. She walked out, closing it.

"Zecora? What am I supposed to be—"

Suddenly, the entire room burst into flames. A ring of fire erupted all around the room, engulfing everything except for the center where Pumpkin Cake sat.

"Zecora! Zecora!" she cried out.

There was no answer. Meanwhile, the flames continued to lap at the walls and floor of the room. Pumpkin gulped. If she didn't do something, she'd burn alive!

She frantically looked around for an exit. For anything. But she was surrounded. Flames engulfed the floor everywhere around her.

Pumpkin Cake focused her intangibility spell on a small part of the floor, trying to create a path between herself and the doorway, but then she realized that if she walked on it, she'd fall right through the floor and into the ground. She powered her horn down.

The smell of smoke assaulted her nose as she realized that, if she didn't burn, she'd suffocate. A wave of terror overcame her.

"Zecora! Help me!" she cried out. Once again, there was no answer.

Pumpkin looked up at the ceiling, and towards the doorway. Maybe if she levitated herself over the flames, she could reach the doorway.

Her horn powered up as a blue field of telekinetic magic surrounded her, and she lifted a few centimeters off the ground. However, she struggled under her own weight, as telekinesis of heavy objects was never her strong suit. If she weighed less, or was still a foal, she could have done it. Her horn ached and cried out in pain from the magical strain. She turned off the levitation spell and fell to the ground once more.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she felt the walls closing in. She'd burn to death. She'd die in horrible agony. Unless… unless she could turn herself intangible and walk through the flames. She had never done it before, but maybe she could do it now that her life depended on it.

_But what if I can never turn back? What if I'm stuck like that forever? What if it hurts? What if it kills me? What if I fall through the floor? What if—_

She stopped herself. The timberwolf had lived and seemed just fine. Any fate her intangibility spell could bring would be better than death.

Pumpkin stood up and approached the flame, the heat warming her coat.

"Here goes…" she said.

She powered up her horn once more, except this time, she directed the spell inward. It might not work. It never had worked before. Why should it work now, even when—

The fire's heat disappeared. The pain from her scratch disappeared. The feel of the floor beneath her hooves disappeared. Every single tactile sensation disappeared. Even the sensation of gravity disappeared; she felt entirely weightless.

Pumpkin Cake gazed down at her body. She was glowing cyan. It had worked.

She took a step forward. It was a bit awkward, as she had no physical feedback to know that her muscles were moving. But, she could still see it.

She placed her hoof onto the ground where the fire was. She had no idea why she didn't fall right through the floor, but wasn't about to start questioning that. She continued through the fire until she reached the door, then she walked through the door itself.

Pumpkin Cake looked behind herself, then let out a laugh. What had she been so worried about, anyway? She hadn't died; here she was as alive as ever. She hadn't fallen through the floor; somehow she was able to traverse it. Being intangible hadn't hurt; in fact the absence of all physical sensation felt rather pleasant. Every one of her fears had been completely unfounded.

She noticed that she was still intangible, and in fact had been casting the spell for nearly a minute without even thinking about it. Surely her horn would be protesting by now. Then, she remembered that there were no touch sensations while she was like this. She'd better turn back, lest she overwork herself.

She turned off the spell. A sharp pain shot through her forehead and horn, and through her side where the scratch was, as she phased back into existence.

_I guess I shouldn't do that for too long, or else I'll pay for it later,_ she thought, rubbing her head with her hoof.

She looked up as Zecora walked down the hallway towards her.

"Zecora! I did it! I used the spell on myself and made it through the fire… and… are you _crazy?_ I could have been burned alive! What were you thinking setting that room on fire?"

Zecora chuckled. "The flames were just a clever ruse. They never could have actually hurt you."

She opened the door to the room and walked in. She walked straight into the fire, and then stomped it out with her hoof. Her mane didn't catch on fire despite her being right inside of it. Soon, she had put out the entire room.

"Wait, so the fire wasn't real?"

"It looks like fire, makes smoke, and gets hot. Can it burn you or my house? It can not."

"So it's just like real fire in all but the burn?"

Zecora nodded.

"But why did you do that?"

"You see your power as a thing to fear. I knew that you would be brave if you thought your death was near."

"Well, it worked," said Pumpkin Cake, shuddering at her near-death experience. "So, what else do you have to teach me?"

"Many things, Pumpkin Cake. But before we do so, let's take a break."

Pumpkin nodded her head in agreement.


	8. Noncontradiction

_December 2021_

Lightning Dust soared through the air over Cloudsdale. The perpetual dimness of the day cloaked in the moon's shadow covered the land, and hung in her mind like a fog. She had always felt free and alive while flying a year ago. But this past year, with the moon hanging over Cloudsdale, flying had only partially eased her life's harsh realities.

It was inevitable. The moon would crash into Cloudsdale, destroying her home, destroying the only city that she had ever known. It was just a matter of when.

She stopped in mid-air, hovering as she gazed up at the rocky, cratered surface of the moon. There really was no way to stop it. The pegasi couldn't fly up there and catch it; the atmosphere was too thin. There weren't enough unicorns in Equestria to counteract the unicorns in the Second Kingdom.

Then, her gaze was drawn towards the mountainside city of Canterlot. Those Second Kingdom unicorns: this was their fault. They abandoned Equestria in its darkest hour, and then came back years later, when Equestria was just about to heal, and threatened to smash it once more.

How could her fellow ponies be so destructive? Why were they so adamant? Did they not know that they had been putting her and millions of other Equestrians through terror for the last year? Or did they know, but their leaders were too stubborn to want peace?

_They have to be stopped. Before the war resumes. It's the only way._

* * *

King Blueblood sat on his throne, reading a letter. He was flanked by two bodyguards who stared straight ahead with stony gazes, levitating rifles in front of them.

"Crown Royal," Blueblood said, motioning towards one of his servants who stood by the door.

"Yes, your Majesty?" the pony answered.

"Please fetch me a pen and paper."

"Right away, your Majesty," the pony said, bowing. He turned around to exit.

Suddenly, a window in Blueblood's chamber smashed open as glass shattered everywhere. Blueblood's bodyguards turned to face it, but a gold and aquamarine blur knocked them both to the ground before they could draw their weapons.

Lightning Dust snatched one of the guard's weapons, grabbed it in her hooves, and pointed it at Prince Blueblood.

"You!" she screamed at him. He threw his hooves up into the air, shrinking back on his throne. The other guard drew his weapon and pointed it at Lightning Dust. Two additional guards rushed through the door to Blueblood's chamber, pointing their rifles at Lightning Dust.

"Drop the weapons or your king gets it!" she yelled at them.

"Do as she says," said Blueblood. The guards obliged, lowering their weapons.

"You've held Cloudsdale under your hoof for long enough! If you value your life, you'll raise the moon back into the sky and leave us alone!"

Blueblood blinked several times, raising an eyebrow. He waited several seconds before finally realizing that he was not dreaming, gathered his thoughts, and spoke.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't do that. There's a war going on. If I move the moon, I lose my advantage, and the Equestrians will break the truce. Surely you know this."

Lightning Dust shouted, "Forget the war! There are ponies who've suffered for the last year in sheer terror, worrying every day whether or not you'd destroy their homes and their lives with the moon. They've been wondering whether or not they'd wake up dead, and it's gone on for long enough! It's time for peace, or I'll kill you!"

Blueblood narrowed his eyes, leering at Lightning Dust. He opened his mouth, but didn't say anything. Then, he looked off in the distance, as if pondering something.

Blueblood finally spoke. "You… you're that Lightning Dust pony, aren't you?"

Lightning Dust paused for a moment, and then answered, "I am. How did you know?"

Blueblood chuckled. "I knew I recognized that voice of yours. You were the one who introduced the idea of the ivory tower tax on Canterlot, back when the Second Kingdom was still part of Equestria."

A year after Twilight Sparkle's coronation, Discord went on a rampage throughout Equestria, causing famines in Ponyville and other cities, creating wildfires, and driving a herd of wendigoes to nearly destroy Cloudsdale. Canterlot remained mostly unscathed during this, and Lightning Dust and other ponies felt that the rich elite in Canterlot were not paying their fair share to help their fellow citizens rebuild.

So, she led an angry mob to march on Princess Celestia's palace, demanding that the princess pass a so-called 'ivory tower tax' on Canterlot, and that the revenue be used to rebuild Cloudsdale, Ponyville, and other Discord-ravaged areas of Equestria. The tax passed, and was highly unpopular in Canterlot, particularly with unicorns, who felt that it was discriminatory towards their race.

"Yes, the tax was my idea," said Lightning Dust. "What's that got to do with anything?"

Blueblood smiled. "Well, Miss Dust, I never properly thanked you. Were it not for your advocacy for a tax on unicorns and our city of Canterlot, I might never have been able to form the Second Kingdom."

Lightning Dust's jaw dropped. Blueblood grinned.

"Oh, yes. You didn't know? I seized on the popular unicorn sentiment against that ivory tower tax of yours and used it to sweep into power. Granted, there were many other issues at play, but without such an unpopular tax for me to rally against, it would've been a lot harder for me to win an election. So, even though that tax was a crime against the unicorn race, I still thank you."

Blueblood stood up out of his throne and gave Lightning Dust a bow, smiling devilishly.

Lightning Dust stammered, "B-but t-that tax was supposed to help Cloudsdale rebuild from Discord's devastation—"

"Oh, and yes, that's how you sold it to ponies. For the common good. After all, who would support a tax sold under a racist banner of disproportionately attacking unicorns? Nopony—besides the princesses, perhaps—even though that was exactly what it did. But when you disguised it as a tax to help rebuild, who could've opposed it? It was quite the clever political move, I'll admit.

"It was just like how Celestia sold all of her magical laws and restrictions on unicorns under the guise of public safety. We couldn't have our own cities like the pegasi have Cloudsdale, we couldn't raise the sun and moon as we used to centuries ago, we couldn't legally learn or use certain spells, all for 'safety.' But in reality, it was all part of a systematic effort to enslave our race to inferior ponies. For a superior being to be enslaved to an inferior one is a crime against nature and science. It's a contradiction. So, we rightfully took our independence."

"So, if it weren't for me…" started Lightning Dust, her hooves trembling as she held the rifle to Blueblood.

"Yes. Without you, it's quite possible that I might not be in this throne room right now."

Lightning Dust pulled back the safety and aimed down the barrel. "Well, it's time to fix my mistake!"

Blueblood chuckled. "You honestly think that taking me out will have any sort of effect? This movement is bigger than me now. It's an entire nation. If you kill me, there will be others who will rise to take my place."

"Yeah, but it'd sure make me feel better," Lightning Dust scoffed.

"You know what would make you feel even better than that, though?"

Lightning Dust remained silent, holding her rifle steady.

"If you could prevent the moon from destroying Cloudsdale. And I know how you can."

Lightning Dust glanced up, looking Blueblood in the eyes.

"...How?"

"Simple. If Cloudsdale were its own independent nation, it could forge a separate peace with the Second Kingdom. Our war is with Equestria, and our designs are on the land earth ponies occupy, and the unicorns they have stolen from us. But as a ground-dwelling race, the unicorns have no use for the pegasi cities."

Lightning Dust said, "There's no way Cloudsdale could secede from Equestria like the Second Kingdom did."

"Yes there is. In fact, I can tell you exactly how you can personally lead a successful secession of the skyward city. But first, you must put down the gun so that we can have an actual discussion like civilized ponies."

"Why would I do that?" asked Lightning Dust.

"Well, it will make me feel better, because my life won't be hanging on your itchy trigger hoof. It will make you feel better because you'll know that I'm sincere and not just saying these things so you won't kill me. Also, as I have already established, there are many more unicorns who would eagerly take my place. I am but one head of your dreaded hydra."

Lightning Dust lowered her weapon slightly, but still kept it trained on Blueblood.

Blueblood asked, "So, do we have a deal?"

Lightning Dust paused for a moment, and then set the gun down on the ground. Blueblood's guards rushed towards Lightning Dust to restrain her, but Blueblood held up his hoof.

"Now, now, gentlecolts. Miss Dust and I had a deal. Please leave the two of us alone. You are to take her rifle, but leave her here with me."

"But, your highness, she might attack you—"

Blueblood furrowed his brow. "Did I stutter? And are you questioning my magical ability to defend myself from some pegasus ruffian?"

"...No, your majesty."

"I thought so. You're dismissed."

The unicorn guard bowed quickly, took the rifle in his magic, and left the room along with the others.

"Now, where were we?" asked Blueblood. "Ah, yes. The only way that Cloudsdale will be saved is if it secedes from Equestria and forges a separate peace with the Second Kingdom. Now, as a politically aware and active mare, you could help to facilitate that. And I, as a politically experienced leader, can give you the tools that you need."

"For Cloudsdale to declare independence? But they're joined to Equestria, and—"

"Wrong," said Blueblood. "Let me explain. But let's go to a room more conducive for discussion."

* * *

Blueblood and Lightning Dust sat inside of Blueblood's conference room. A guard stood outside the doorway, but other than him, the two were alone.

"Can I smoke in here?" asked Lightning Dust, removing a pack of cigarettes from behind her wing.

Blueblood chuckled. "Though I discourage unicorns from taking up the habit, if the pegasi wish to kill themselves, by all means do so."

"Thanks, I guess." Lightning Dust rolled her eyes as she lit the cigarette. Blueblood's horn flashed as an ashtray appeared on the table.

"Now, do you know why Canterlot and the Second Kingdom declared independence from Equestria, as a unicorn-only kingdom?" Blueblood asked.

"Because you didn't want to pay the ivory tower tax that I lobbied for," said Lightning Dust.

"That's part of it," Blueblood answered. "But it was that and a combination of other things. As I mentioned, Princess Celestia had instituted many magical laws and decrees which the unicorns felt put them at a disadvantage and disenfranchised them. For instance, she locked up many magic spells in the Canterlot Archives. She also prohibited the unicorns from having their own cities like the pegasi have Cloudsdale.

"Add that to a revelation by Discord. He played an audio recording of her saying that she never really trusted the unicorn race to begin with. Then there was the ivory tower tax, and all these things led to an entire unicorn-majority city feeling disenfranchised. I seized upon these sentiments and rose to power through them. Do you understand?"

Lightning Dust remained silent for a few moments as she pondered what the king had said. She took another drag of her cigarette. Finally, she responded, "Yes, that sounds unfair from the unicorns' point of view."

"Now you begin to see!" exclaimed Blueblood, his eyes lighting up. "Any group that feels disenfranchised or misrepresented for long enough can be led by a strong leader to seek a better deal. In the case of Cloudsdale, I believe that you can rise to the occasion and be that leader for them."

"But how would I do that?" asked Lightning Dust.

Blueblood smiled. "The same way that you so passionately argued for the ivory tower tax, but with more foresight, more planning, and more finesse. You are a great speaker and a passionate young mare, Lightning Dust. Even though I vehemently disagreed with your fiscal policy, I admired your public speaking ability and debate skills. However, you lack the wisdom to advocate for your positions beyond an angry mob caught up in the heat of the moment. You need the wisdom to turn that mob into a legitimate political movement. I can help you gain the wisdom. I can present to you a compelling argument to use."

"I'm listening," said Lightning Dust, exhaling smoke.

"Very well," said Blueblood, leaning back in his chair.

He gestured with his hoof. "Let me paint you a picture. As a resident of Cloudsdale, you surely can empathize with these words. The moon has hung over your heads like an ominous thundercloud for this past year as a consequence of the war and subsequent truce. Cloudsdale has sacrificed the lives of hundreds of pegasi troops, who have an air advantage over the unicorns."

"Right," said Lightning Dust.

"So, my question to you, Miss Dust, is this: what does Cloudsdale get in return? Why must your city sacrifice its young pegasi to die in battles fought with ground-dwelling unicorns, for cities on the ground? Remember, the Second Kingdom has no use for your cloud cities."

Without delay, Lightning Dust answered, "It's because we're all Equestrians, of course. We have to all look out for each other as fellow ponies. That's why I wanted the ivory tower tax. So that ponies in Canterlot—which Discord didn't ravage—could pay to reconstruct the other areas he _did_ ravage."

Blueblood chuckled. "That _would_ be a compelling argument if your give-and-take philosophy ever had a 'give.' But the pegasi in Cloudsdale are being exploited by the rest of Equestria with nothing given in return, just as Equestria exploited Canterlot through the ivory tower tax before we seceded.

"Let's say Cloudsdale's position were reversed, and they were the ones in dire straits, as they were several years ago. You say that Equestrians all have to look out for each other as fellow ponies, yes? So then, where were the earth ponies fighting off the Windigoes when Discord led them on their invasion of Cloudsdale?"

"They weren't there," said Lightning Dust. "But earth ponies can't fly. The only way earth ponies would be called into battle to defend Cloudsdale is if we had airplanes like your kingdom does."

"But you don't," said Blueblood.

"Right, because we have the pegasi," said Lightning Dust.

"So," said Blueblood, chuckling, "when it comes to Equestrians all looking out for one another, this arrangement seems to never benefit the pegasi in Cloudsdale, but _always_ benefits the earth ponies on the ground who need air support."

"I guess so," said Lightning Dust.

Blueblood responded, "The pegasi are expected to die for their country no matter where the conflict occurs. The earth ponies, on the other hoof, are only expected to die for their country when the battles just so happen to take place on the ground. This is a blatant contradiction, and it leads to the exploitation of Cloudsdale."

Lightning Dust remained silent for several moments. Finally, she responded, "Yes, I guess I never thought of it that way. But what are you getting at, though? I can't just go back to Cloudsdale and preach the same racist speeches that you gave, but with the word 'unicorn' swapped out for 'pegasi.' I'll be called a traitor. Besides, I don't even dislike earth ponies like you do."

"But I'm not asking you to do that, Miss Dust," said Blueblood. "You never cast the ivory tower tax on Canterlot in a racial light, even though it disproportionately affected unicorns. The princesses never cast the magic restrictions in a racial light, even though they _only_ affected unicorns."

"True," Lightning Dust acknowledged as she stubbed out her cigarette.

"What you ought to do is paint the picture of injustice and unfairness, because you are quite good at that. Argue for noncontradiction: equality of the ground and sky. Think about it. Not only has Cloudsdale sacrificed air troops for nothing in return, but as soon as the the truce is inevitably broken, Cloudsdale itself will cease to exist. And for what? So that the ponies on the ground can keep their small hamlet of Ponyville? A town on the ground of a few thousand, in exchange for a city in the sky of hundreds of thousands? Rather than barging into_my_ throne room threatening to kill me, you should have done the same to your own princess!"

"Well, maybe it's a good thing I didn't, or else we wouldn't even be having this conversation," Lightning Dust chuckled.

"Fair point, Miss Dust."

Lightning Dust asked, "Okay, so I tell ponies that there's a contradiction. But then what? What if they still feel loyalty to Equestria? What if even their fear of losing their homes isn't enough to make them want to secede? And how do I deal with the generals and the top brass of the Wonderbolts, like Spitfire or Soarin? They'd never abandon Equestria; they'd fight to the death to keep Cloudsdale as part of Equestria. Fear won't sway them."

"Well, you don't need all of the top brass," said Blueblood. "You just need a few generals loyal to your position, like I had when the Second Kingdom seceded. But you're right that generals and military ponies are tougher nuts to crack. They're trained to deal with fear. But they're NOT trained to deal with dishonor. And for that, I have a juicy piece of intelligence to share with you."

Lightning Dust leaned forward.

Blueblood said, "As part of the Second Kingdom's racial independence initiative, we have captured a group of a hundred or so young unicorns. These unicorns are to supply the Second Kingdom with food so that we will no longer have to rely on Equestria."

Lightning Dust raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know that unicorns could farm."

"Yes, but only if they have earth pony parents," said Blueblood. "But those unicorns are usually only found in small farming towns with a history of racial intermingling. That's why we invaded Ponyville, among other reasons."

"Oh," said Lightning Dust.

"Anyway," Blueblood continued, "We're currently holding the unicorn children at a barn called Sweet Apple Acres in Ponyville. Now, the Equestrians have caught onto this, and they've threatened us. If we move these children at all, or as soon as the war resumes, whichever comes first: they will drop a bomb on the barn and kill everypony inside. By doing this, they hope to cripple our food supply and starve us into submission."

Lightning Dust's jaw hung open as she blinked several times.

"Yes, Equestria will kill a hundred of its own children simply to try to cripple the Second Kingdom. Not that this strategy would ever work, anyway."

Blueblood used his magic to open a briefcase. He pulled out a photograph, and floated it over to Lightning Dust. The photograph depicted the 120 unicorns inside the barn.

Finally, Lightning Dust spoke.

"I can hardly believe it. I thought that the princesses would never stand for killing children."

"They have no moral code besides one rule: do anything to stay in power," said Blueblood. "Other than that, nothing is important to them. I established the Second Kingdom to allow the superior unicorn race to flourish in independence from the princess' whims and designs of eternal power. Perhaps you will give Cloudsdale the same opportunity."

"Let's hope," said Lightning Dust.

Blueblood stood up. "I've planted the seeds of sedition well enough. Good luck on your quest, Miss Dust."

"Thanks," said Lightning Dust. She took the photograph, walked out the doorway, and flew off into the air back towards Cloudsdale.

Blueblood waved goodbye to her as he grinned from ear to ear.


	9. Shot In the Dark

Lightning Dust sat inside of her house with Flitter, Cloud Chaser, and Thunderlane. They all stared at the photograph sitting on the coffee table.

"I still can't believe it," said Cloud Chaser.

"It does seem unbelievable," Thunderlane added.

"Pfft," Cloud Chaser scoffed, pointing with her hoof towards the picture. "It doesn't prove anything, anyway. I mean, it's just a picture."

"But a picture is worth a thousand words," Flitter responded.

"And those? Those gotta be worth at least two, maybe even _three_ thousand," Thunderlane noted.

"But look at it, though. So, it's a bunch of unicorns. Someone could've just taken a photograph at a school in Canterlot. It doesn't prove anything," said Cloud Chaser, picking up the photograph.

Inside of a barn, five rows of twenty young unicorns each stood. If any of them knew who she was, they could have noticed Pumpkin Cake in the photograph, as it was taken before she escaped.

All the unicorns in the picture had somber looks on their faces. Their flanks with the special brand on them were not visible in the photograph, though it almost didn't matter. The young unicorns looked more like a funeral procession than a classroom. Beside them, two armed guards levitating assault rifles stood, stony gazes upon their faces.

"Since when do armed guards stand around schools?" asked Flitter, pointing with her hoof towards a guard in the photograph.

"Well, I don't know, maybe they've had a lot of school shootings or magic attacks or whatever the crazy ponies do over there in the Second Kingdom. Maybe that's made them beef up security?" Cloud Chaser guessed.

"Yeah, sure, they beefed up their security for their school in a _barn_," Thunderlane quipped.

"I don't know," Cloud Chaser said. "Having school in a barn is odd, but still doesn't prove anything, to me at least. Okay, so there's a bunch of unicorn fillies and colts in a barn in Ponyville. Let's assume that's true. Even so, how do we know that Equestria plans on bombing them?"

Everypony remained silent.

Cloud Chaser held up her hooves in the air. "Don't get me wrong, it would be terrible if our military was planning on killing over a hundred children. I wouldn't stand for it, and I think hardly anypony would. But it's kind of a stretch to assume that just because this barn is here, and just because the Second Kingdom is holding all those unicorns hostage, Equestria plans on killing them all just to get an advantage. I just don't see Luna or Twilight Sparkle signing off on it."

Nopony responded until Lightning Dust finally said, "There's one way to know for sure. Thunderlane, you're in the Wonderbolts, right?"

"I am," Thunderlane said. "That's why I don't believe that we could ever kill a bunch of children. It's a war crime."

"Do you go back on duty soon?" asked Lightning Dust.

Thunderlane nodded. "I'm on leave right now, but I go back in January."

Lightning Dust said, "Well, ask your superior about the barn, and ask what they plan on doing. They probably won't outright admit to anything, but you can read faces, right?"

"I'm decent at it."

"So then you'll have a good idea of whether or not they plan on bombing the barn."

Thunderlane shrugged. "I don't know how much good it will do, but it's worth a shot. Cloud Chaser is right. Just this photograph alone isn't much proof."

"Alright, then. Go get us the proof!" Lightning Dust ordered.

Thunderlane nodded.

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January 2022

Thunderlane walked down the hallway at the Wonderbolt base in Cloudsdale. He stared down, glaring at the reflections of the hall lights on the polished floor rather than bothering to look straight ahead as a military officer ought to. He paused every five steps or so to brush his mane off of his forehead.

Thunderlane sighed, a knot at the pit of his stomach. As part of the Equestrian Air Force, the Wonderbolts were a very regimented organization. The top brass frowned upon ponies who went around questioning orders. They were even more upset if ponies got access to confidential information that they weren't supposed to have. Needless to say, what Thunderlane was about to do had the potential to send his superiors fuming. A serious reprimand wasn't out of the question.

Hopefully, though, Thunderlane's plan wouldn't make him appear to be insubordinate.

He finally reached General Soarin's office, gulped, and knocked.

"Come in."

He placed his hoof on the doorknob. After taking a deep breath, he opened it.

Soarin glanced up from his desk and put down the feather pen that he was writing with.

He smiled. "Ah, Lieutenant Thunderlane. What brings you to my office today?"

Thunderlane removed his cap, walked over to the chair, and sat down in it.

"General Soarin, I am honored to serve with Equestria's most elite flyers here in the Wonderbolts, and I want you to know that there's nothing else that I'd rather do…"

"Mmhmm," Soarin muttered, nonchalantly returning to his writing.

"So please do know that I don't say what I have to say lightly."

"Yes, yes. Spit it out, Lieutenant!" Soarin urged, a look of annoyance on his face. "I have pressing matters to attend to, you know."

"Well, sir. There's this barn on the edge of Ponyville, the area currently under Second Kingdom control ever since the ceasefire."

"Our scouts have informed me of this, yes," said Soarin. "What about it?"

Thunderlane gulped. "Well, sir… there are over a hundred young unicorn fillies and colts held prisoner there, to my knowledge."

"Yes, our scouts have informed me of this as well," Soarin sighed, rolling his eyes. "How about you tell me something that I _don't_ know, Lieutenant Thunderlane?"

Thunderlane remained silent for a few seconds, and then finally he spoke. "Sir, I've heard… whispers… that these unicorn fillies and colts are part of a rare breed of unicorn who can farm. That they're being trained to operate farming machinery to meet the food needs of the Second Kingdom."

This time, it was General Soarin who was silent.

Thunderlane continued, "Given that these young unicorns are a high-value strategic target, I've heard a rumor through the grapevine. I have a friend who has spoken to King Blueblood, and apparently Blueblood knows about an Equestrian plan to bomb the barn with these unicorns, thus depriving the Second Kingdom of potential food in an effort to starve them out. Is Blueblood right?"

General Soarin's eyes widened as all of the color drained from his face. A brief flash of fear shown on his face, but was almost immediately replaced by a stone cold gaze which could intimidate Death himself.

"Lieutenant Thunderlane," he whispered, leaning forward in his chair until his face was but a few centimeters from Thunderlane's own. "I don't know who told Blueblood this information, or who told you. Whoever it is will no longer be wearing a uniform by the end of the week. The contents of that barn, as well as any potential plans by the Equestrian air force, are classified, and I order you to keep it that way. I also order you to file an incident report detailing exactly where you heard this information."

"B-b-but sir… do you r-really plan on k-killing over a hundred Equestrian children? Please tell me that you'd at least try to rescue them first-"

"I will neither confirm nor deny this. You already know too much. You are dismissed, Lieutenant Thunderlane."

"But sir, we could never-"

"You're dismissed, Lieutenant Thunderlane!" General Soarin repeated, slamming his hoof on the table.

"Sir, yes sir!" said Thunderlane, putting his cap back on and hurrying out the door, slamming it behind him.

Soarin leaned back in his desk, sighing. He finished writing his letter, then stood up, put on his cap, and headed down the hallway.

He knocked on a door.

"Come in."

Soarin entered and saluted.

"General Spitfire."

"General Soarin. What is it?"

"We have a breach of Level One confidential information. A lieutenant told me that he heard rumors about Operation Barn Buster."

Spitfire blinked. "Get Princesses Twilight and Luna here immediately. We need to hold a meeting."

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Later that day, after Thunderlane had finished his shift, he walked down the hallway, dazed. The reality of his earlier conversation slowly sunk in. It was all true. The Equestrian generals planned on bombing the barn, after all.

How could they do such a thing? Crippling the Second Kingdom or not, killing a hundred children constituted a grave war crime. Though General Soarin hadn't explicitly confirmed that this was a plan, he hadn't denied it, either.

No, there had to be another explanation. Anything but what he just heard.

He turned around, and glanced General Soarin and Spitfire walking down the hallway together at a brisk pace, entering a conference room.

Protocol be damned. He needed to know what they were planning. Perhaps Spitfire would be more willing to tell him. He rushed down the hallway to meet them. Thunderlane stood outside the door to the conference room and tried the handle. It wouldn't budge. He looked around. There was nopony else in the hallway. He started to walk back to where he came from.

But then his eyes were drawn up towards the ceiling.

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Generals Soarin and Spitfire entered the conference room, sitting down. Princesses Twilight and Luna were already there seated, waiting to meet them.

"We have a grave situation. There may be a spy in our midst," said General Soarin.

"What's the problem?" asked Twilight Sparkle.

"King Blueblood knows about Operation Barn Buster," said General Soarin.

The group remained silent, and Spitfire quietly nodded her head.

"What?" asked Princess Luna, leaning forward in her chair. "But that plan was supposed to be top-secret."

"Only the four of us know about it," said Twilight. "Unless the spy is hiding in this room, or unless any of you told anypony, there's no way that Blueblood would know that we plan to bomb the barn."

"Maybe he just made a lucky guess, and happened to be right," said General Spitfire. "Killing a bunch of children is more his M.O. than ours, but since he's one to think that way anyways… he might assume the worst of us."

"And be correct," she added under her breath, frowning.

"We did not make this decision lightly, General Spitfire," said Princess Luna. "You were there for the meeting."

General Soarin said, "We've been over this. Our planners have looked at it, and there's no feasible way of rescuing these unicorn children without sustaining heavy casualties ourselves. The barn is heavily fortified and guarded. Any rescue attempt would become a suicide mission that would endanger all of their lives regardless, while also putting our troops at risk. Who knows how brainwashed these children have been, and how many of them would sympathize with the Second Kingdom, and would try to fight back?

"Say we did do a rescue mission. If the rescue attempt failed, which would be likely, then Blueblood would be able to simply move the unicorn children further into his own territory, and make it impossible for us to attempt a rescue of them at all. Then, he'd have a steady food supply for his kingdom, and could drag this war on for years. With the barn, we know where they all are right now, and have the chance to strike.

"Even if we do rescue them and reunite them with their families in Ponyville, what's there to prevent Blueblood from capturing them once more if he ever recaptures Ponyville? A bomb or two would do the trick much more efficiently, and forever put these unicorns out of his reach. It would deal a serious blow to his kingdom, and hopefully bring this war to a close much sooner. By doing this, we would save hundreds of thousands of lives, much more than the mere hundreds we sacrifice."

"It's mass murder!" General Spitfire exclaimed, throwing her hooves in the air. "I didn't like it when we decided on it, and I don't like it now!"

"None of us _wants_ to do this," said Twilight Sparkle. "But it's the only way. It's also not what he's expecting us to do, and he wouldn't be prepared for it like he would a rescue… or at least, we didn't think so, until we found out he's onto us."

"General Spitfire, you haven't told anypony about this plan, have you?" Princess Luna asked.

"What? No! I may be against it, but I'm not a traitor," said Spitfire.

"It must've been a lucky guess, then," said General Soarin.

"So what do we do now?" asked Twilight Sparkle.

Soarin shrugged. "He may know about the plan, but he can't do much about it. He can't move the children without violating the cease fire, and he knows we're keeping a close eye on Sweet Apple Acres. As soon as the war resumes, we'll carry out Operation Barn Buster, but we'll just have to be aware that he will know our pegasus bombers are coming and take extra safety measures."

"Agreed," said Princess Luna. Twilight Sparkle nodded, and Spitfire leaned back in her chair, gazing off into space.

Thunderlane's heart pounded in his chest. He hoped that the thumping of his heartbeat wouldn't give him away. As the four ponies continued to discuss war matters, Thunderlane crawled back through the air duct, having heard what he needed to hear.

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Lightning Dust and her friends all sat around in Cloud Chaser and Flitter's house.

"Well, I'll be damned," said Cloud Chaser.

"It's all true. Blueblood's right. They're going to bomb the barn as soon as the war's back on," said Thunderlane.

"I wonder how Blueblood knew?" asked Lightning Dust.

"He _wouldn't_ have known. He just took a shot in the dark when he told you that," said Thunderlane. "Soarin, Spitfire, Twilight, and Luna all were shocked. None of them let it leak, and they were the only ones who knew to begin with."

"Why _did_ he tell you that, anyway?" asked Flitter. "You never told us how you got to talk to him or anything. All you told us was that he told you this and gave you the photograph. When and how did you even meet him?"

"Well, funny story," said Lightning Dust. "I was actually planning on assassinating him. I burst through his throne room, pointed a gun at his head, and was about to pull the trigger… but then he convinced me not to. We had a little chat, and he gave me this photograph and told me that I should be mad at Equestria's leadership instead of him."

"Oh, well that makes sense," said Flitter.

"_Yeah,_" said Cloud Chaser. "I'm sure that the five-year-old that you tested that fake story on totally believed it! Come on, Lightning Dust. Quit jerking us around."

"Alright, fine," Lightning Dust conceded. "I demanded that he sign a peace treaty, but he told me that the only way that there'd be peace would be if Cloudsdale split off from Equestria and made a separate peace. This photograph was ammunition for the secession."

"I'm game," said Thunderlane. Flitter and Cloud Chaser looked at him with their jaws open.

"What?" he asked, shrugging. "I refuse to be part of a military and a nation that kills children indiscriminately. I don't care if it's part of some strategy to cripple the Second Kingdom or not. I'm sure that using chemical weapons on them would cripple them too, but it's a war crime. If Cloudsdale wants to break off, that's fine with me. I don't want to be in the Equestrian military anymore."

"But we have to stick together," said Flitter and Cloud Chaser in unison.

"You mean just like how Ponyville's soldiers came to our aid when the Wendigos attacked years ago? Or how they want to sacrifice Cloudsdale to the moon to save Ponyville? _That_ sort of sticking together?" Lightning Dust scoffed.

"She's right," said Thunderlane. "Cloudsdale's always been a military town, and I guess I've been taking for granted that the Princesses were going to sacrifice our city to save the ponies on the ground below, in some sort of trade-off… and I was okay with it then, but now it turns out that the ponies on the ground will be sacrificed too!"

"Yup," said Lightning Dust. "Well, I'm off to speak to the newsponies over at the Cloudsdale Courier. Thunderlane and I are going to get this on the front page by tomorrow."

Thunderlane nodded, and they both walked out the door.

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Spitfire's head spun as she sat at her breakfast table, reading the morning paper.

_The Cloudsdale Courier_

_January 4th, 2022_

_WAR CRIMES PLOTTED BY PRINCESSES_

_Princesses Luna, Twilight, and two of the Wonderbolts' top generals have plotted to kill dozens of Equestrian children in Second Kingdom-occupied Ponyville, an unnamed whistleblower told the Cloudsdale Courier._

_Pictured here is a photograph of the one hundred and twenty young unicorn fillies and colts in a Ponyville barn, whom the Princesses planned to slaughter with a bomb in "Operation Barn Buster." The unicorns are part of a Second Kingdom plot to increase farming output by using mechanized-_

Spitfire couldn't read any more. She placed down the paper, taking a sip of coffee.

"Spitfire, what's up?"

She glanced up to see Pound Cake walking over to the table.

"See for yourself," Spitfire said flatly, moving the paper over to Pound Cake.

Pound Cake read the article, his eyes widening.

"That's my sister in that picture!" he said, pointing with his hoof towards Pumpkin Cake.

"You guys were going to KILL PUMPKIN!? Kill all those unicorns?" Pound Cake screamed, throwing the paper back onto the table.

Spitfire nodded. "I tried to tell the others on the military council that it wasn't the right thing to do. They wouldn't listen. They just wanted to go ahead with this plan. I think they still might do it. They're so adamant that this will 'save Equestria' and 'save thousands more lives than it kills.' But will it really save us? Or will it just make us as bad as Blueblood?"

Her eyes watered as she held back tears.

"I have to go save her. She can't be in there when the bomb hits!" cried Pound Cake.

"Pound Cake, stop. You're not going to go and storm that barn again. Remember how it went last time?"

Pound nodded.

"Well, imagine twice as much security, and you've got Sweet Apple Acres right now. It's practically a fortress now, and trying to get in would be a suicide mission. Not even our military thinks that they can safely rescue everypony, and they're trained soldiers. Besides, you don't even know if she'll be there. You'd be taking a shot in the dark. If you go to the barn, she might be out in the fields while you're trying to storm the barn. Or this could be an old photograph, and she could've escaped since it was taken. Didn't you tell me that she could walk through walls or something?"

"Yeah, but I don't know if she's brave enough. She wouldn't escape with me when she had the chance, and I'm her own brother."

Spitfire shrugged. "Ponies change. I know I have. A year ago, I would've signed off on this mission without batting an eye. I think I even told Blueblood during our truce talks that death was better than serving him and his kingdom. But having you here… it's kind of changed my point of view. I'd never hurt a kid. I couldn't, not after knowing you. And you've changed, too. I've been training you, and you're much more disciplined now. Too disciplined to go on a suicide mission. Pumpkin could've changed. She could've worked up the courage and gotten away."

"But you don't know that," said Pound Cake. "She could still be there, and she could die when we drop the bomb!"

"You're right, Pound. I don't know that. But I do know that we can't control what happens to her, or if we drop the bomb. Not even I can stop the bomb. What I won't have is you flying off to your death. You're too important to me."

Pound silently nodded, and hugged Spitfire.

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"This is beautiful!" Blueblood chuckled, levitating the newspaper in his magic. "I couldn't have planned it any better if I wrote the article myself."

"A whistleblower, huh?" said General Top Brass. "That's terrific!"

"As for the bomb, our magicians have been beefing up Sweet Apple Acres' force field defenses. We've also been reinforcing the inside of the barn with steel and concrete. It can withstand a bomb blast or two, which should give us enough time to evacuate them." said Trixie.

"Speaking of, Trixie," said Blueblood. "A few months ago, you told me that a young filly went missing. Any luck finding her? Or finding out how she went missing, or if she deliberately escaped?"

"No luck, your highness. I have no idea how she would have gotten past the force field without breaking it," Trixie responded. "Even if she'd known how to teleport, that wouldn't have worked for escaping a force field. We checked the perimeter, and there's no sign of her having dug a hole under it, either. She's quite the escape artist. But no matter. We've shored up our defenses and have yet to lose any more of the young unicorns since she vanished."

"That's good to hear," Blueblood responded. "I trust it won't happen again."

"So, what do we do now?" asked Fancy Pants.

"Now?" said Blueblood, leaning back in his chair. "We wait."


	10. Deep Within

The mid-afternoon sun beat down on the clearing in the Everfree Forest in which Zecora's hut stood. Inside, Pumpkin Cake and Zecora sat in the living room. Zecora sat at a desk, mixing up another potion. Pumpkin lay on the couch reading a book.

For the past six months, Pumpkin Cake had lived with Zecora, helping her out with her potions in exchange for magical education. Zecora now had a pony to help her out with grabbing herbs, leaves, berries, and other ingredients that she needed in her brews, and twelve-year-old Pumpkin Cake now had a magic teacher.

Pumpkin Cake had learned a few more useful spells since Zecora had started training her. She could now use her horn as a source of light, and could teleport short distances. Though she was still lacking in telekinesis compared to other unicorns her age, she had improved since Zecora had started teaching her. She could use a few dowsing and locating spells, which came in handy when searching for potion ingredients. She had also gotten much better at her intangibility spell, which she'd spent most of her time training. She could now cast it for more time and on larger objects.

As for Zecora's potions, they were all quite useful. Since Zecora and Pumpkin lived alone, they had no access to medicines, vitamins, or other remedies. They both relied on her alchemical knowledge to keep themselves healthy. Zecora also was quite generous with her brews, and every now and then a pony would wander into the forest hurt or injured and asking for a cure, which she was happy to provide.

Zecora busily attended to her alchemy, using a pestle and mortar to grind up ingredients, where she mixed them into a small vial on her desk. This particular potion had taken her several hours to decant and properly mix. The ingredients had taken weeks to gather. The potion was quite useful: one sip could cure any ailment from the common cold to the pony pox, from the trots to cancer.

Bubbles fizzled in the bright purple mixture as Zecora stirred it with a stirring stick. She glanced over at her potion book. Her eyes widened.

"Oh dear. It seems I don't have all I need here."

Pumpkin Cake glanced up from her book, placing it down on the couch.

"What's the matter, Zecora?" she asked.

"Pumpkin Cake, I have something for you to do. I need another ingredient for my brew."

"What is it?"

"The potion needs a special dreg: the shell of a manticore's egg."

Pumpkin blinked. "I didn't know that manticores laid eggs."

Zecora nodded, still stirring the potion. "There is a mother manticore living in a cave. She's due north of here, only three miles away."

"Alright, let's go," said Pumpkin Cake, walking over to grab her jacket.

Zecora held up her hoof. "I cannot go with you, I'm afraid. This potion requires me to stay. If I do not stir and stir until I add the eggs, then this entire potion will separate and go to waste. Now make haste."

Zecora pointed towards her potion ingredient book. Pumpkin glanced at it and saw what Zecora meant: if the potion was not constantly stirred, it would separate out into its component parts once more, like oil floating to the top of water. And as the bright red letters on the page warned, the potion ingredients could not be reused once this happened. Given that it had already required several rare ingredients, Zecora had a sense of urgency.

Pumpkin Cake raised her eyebrow. "Why didn't we just get this ingredient before you started mixing the potion?"

"It must have slipped my mind. The other ingredients took so long to find. This one, though, will be a cinch. Just don't find yourself in a pinch."

"I'll go find the egg," Pumpkin said. She put on her jacket, and left the door of the hut.

"Be careful out there," said Zecora. "Wait until the mother manticore has left her lair. Then, sneak in and grab the eggs from there. Try to be back before the night hour, or else this potion will go sour."

Pumpkin Cake nodded and walked out the door.

* * *

Pumpkin Cake was still a bit nervous about going off into the Everfree Forest alone, though nowhere near as scared as the first time that she did it. By now, she was experienced enough to venture out into the forest alone, and Zecora had already accompanied her on many errands to make sure that she could handle herself.

Pumpkin Cake walked due north for several kilometers, navigating through the thickets and bushes. About half an hour later, she came across a small stream about ten meters across. It was too deep to wade in, but she found some fallen boulders to skip across on.

When Pumpkin Cake got to the far side of the river, she realized that she'd forgotten her saddlebags. She debated whether or not she should go back to get them. However, she didn't want to waste the time. The potion needed the eggs as soon as possible, or else it would be worthless. All she needed was to pick up a few eggs, anyway. She could easily carry them in her magic rather than saddlebags.

As soon as she thought that she was near the manticore's den, she powered up her horn. It glowed a dim blue, lighting up the shady forest floor beneath the thick canopy. She was using a location spell; with it, she would know the eggs' general area. Her horn's glow increased in intensity as she walked further north.

A few minutes later, her horn was glowing quite brightly as she made her way to a steep hill. She meandered around, wading through tall grass, ferns, and bushes as she finally reached her destination: a large cave in the hillside.

She figured that this must be the manticore's den. Her horn hadn't glowed this brightly during her entire journey, and this was the only cave around. Pumpkin Cake glanced inside the cave, her horn still glowing. The mother manticore was sleeping, its snores loudly echoing.

Pumpkin Cake figured she'd just wait for the manticore to wake up and leave its den. It couldn't take that long, could it? She walked a few meters away from the cave entrance and hid behind a bush, patiently waiting.

An hour later, Pumpkin Cake could still hear snoring. The sun was just barely above the western horizon. In an hour, it would be nightfall. Manticores weren't nocturnal, Pumpkin recalled from Zecora's teachings, so it would probably sleep there for the rest of the night. If she wanted to get the eggs, she'd have to go in now.

She walked over to the cave entrance, her hooves trembling slightly. Though she could shield herself from all harm with her intangibility spell, the spell still had its limits. She was far from invincible. Taking a deep breath, she walked into the dark cave, her horn lighting the way. She set her hooves down on the ground slowly and carefully, making sure not to make a sound.

Suddenly, she heard a loud roar. She glanced around and saw the mother manticore, who had woken from its slumber. The beast bared its claws, standing on its hind legs. It towered high above her, nearly reaching the ceiling of the cave.

Pumpkin Cake cast her intangibility spell on herself, phasing out. The manticore pounced on her glowing body, but stood up quite confused to discover that it had not hit the mark. The manticore swatted at Pumpkin with a paw, but to no avail.

Pumpkin Cake glanced around for any sign of the manticore eggs. She discovered that the cave actually extended deep within the hill side. She couldn't even see the back wall of it. So, she pressed onward.

Unfortunately, Pumpkin could only move very slowly while intangible. As Zecora had taught her, intangibility magic was a subset of levitation magic, except rather than simply take the weight from an object to allow it to rise into the air, an intangibility spell took the _mass_ from an object as well, allowing it to both rise into the air and pass through other objects. This is why she didn't simply fall through the ground while intangible: gravity was not acting on her. However, this meant that in order to move, she had to use her levitation magic to push herself forward, and she was quite unskilled at this.

She crept forward slowly, her magic slowly pushing her phased body across the ground like a slowly floating specter. The manticore's inner feline kicked in, and it chased after the glowing blue Pumpkin Cake with the same tenacity—and futility—of a cat chasing a shadow. The manticore swatted at the air and pounced on the ground, but didn't catch her.

After three minutes, Pumpkin Cake finally eyed three eggs, about twenty meters away, sitting inside a large straw nest. However, she realized that she was reaching the limit of her intangibility spell, and it soon would wear off before she could get there, and the manticore would catch her.

Thinking quickly, she waited until the manticore was crouched in a pouncing position. Then, right as it was about to pounce, she briefly returned to being solid, only to dodge the manticore as it pounced onto the ground. Now able to run, she dashed over to the eggs.

She tried to pick them all up with her magic, but found that they were far heavier than she had thought. They must've weighed as much as an anvil. Her already tired horn strained just to pick up a single egg.

Suddenly, the beast darted across the cave, leaping in the air as it pounced. Pumpkin Cake cast her intangibility spell on herself once more, and the beast passed through her… but hit the eggs, smashing them into pieces.

Pumpkin Cake's heart skipped a beat. Now what would she do?

_Oh, right. The egg shells are all I need,_ she realized. _Duh._

She returned to being solid, frantically grabbing the egg shells with her magic. She would have to hurry when she left, because she couldn't levitate other objects while intangible; she'd have to be solid to bring the eggshells back. If only she'd remembered her saddlebags!

The manticore got back up onto its feet, angrily eyeing its destroyed eggs and the shells floating away. Pumpkin Cake turned and ran, galloping out the front door of the cave as fast as her legs would carry her, the manticore in hot pursuit.

As she ran, she saw the river in front of her, then glanced behind her. The beast was gaining on her, and would be closing in on her in mere moments!

With great effort, she summoned up as much of her remaining magical energy as she could muster. She could feel the manticore's hot breath on her flank as she disappeared in a bright flash of light, leaving the beast without its prey. She reappeared on the other side of the river, her teleport successful. The manticore roared loudly at her, but did not attempt to cross the river.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Pumpkin Cake sat down for a few moments to regain her stamina and magical energy.

This had by far been the most dangerous mission she'd been on. Other times, she'd simply had to retrieve things like phoenix feathers or poison joke plants. On some of the escapades, she hadn't even had to use her magic at all. This was entirely different, though. She'd just barely escaped with her life.

She missed the days when the simplest errands she had to run were just going to the cellar to retrieve flour, sugar, or eggs (regular chicken eggs, that is) for some pastry her parents were baking. She missed her parents' baked treats, cakes, and pies.

She missed her parents. Their smiles. Their voices. Everything about them… she missed her brother...

She felt a knot at the pit of her stomach. She felt tears welling up.

"No," she whispered quietly. A blue glow enveloped her, and as she phased out of existence, she felt nothing. In the same way that her spell numbed her to physical pain, it seemed to numb her to sadness as well.

She wasn't sure how it worked, or even if it was anything beyond a placebo effect. All she knew was that it worked, and that was good enough for her.

She'd been numb to the grief of losing her parents when she was on Sweet Apple Acres. She supposed that the full gravity of it had yet to sink in at that time. She had cried a few times, but hadn't felt much beyond that.

After she escaped, though, she'd begun to feel it a bit more every day. Zecora had filled the hole in her heart somewhat, but as kind and loving as she was, the zebra could never replace her parents or brother.

Then, one day, about five months ago, she was reminded of her parents once more. One of Zecora's potions had a very similar odor to the smell of the Cakes' signature croissants. Then, as now, she had welled up with tears. She had gazed deep within herself and saw the void left by her parents and brother… and it terrified her. Almost instinctively, she cast her intangibility spell, and just as her body vanished, so too did her grief.

Though it was only temporary, she had used this method to avoid sobbing or crying out at the memory of her parents whenever the memories resurfaced. It had yet to fail her, though she found herself having to rely on this method more and more as time passed. Her sadness would eventually catch up with her, and she knew it.

A few minutes passed. Phasing back into reality once more, and with her pain once again put off for later, she ventured back to Zecora's hut.

Pumpkin knew what she was doing wasn't healthy. She knew she'd eventually have to feel her grief. She knew she couldn't hide from it forever.

But she'd delay it as long as she could.


	11. Guillotine of Rock

The voices of a thousand angry ponies boomed and echoed through the night sky. The light from torches illuminated the marble walls of the Equestrian Air Force headquarters as ponies angrily shouted slurs and curses.

"You child-killers!"

"Monsters!"

Lightning Dust flew above the crowd, a megaphone in her hooves.

"Citizens of Cloudsdale!" she yelled.

They all glanced up at her.

"My name is Lightning Dust. I am a resident of Cloudsdale, and a stuntpony by trade. I used to be a candidate for the Wonderbolts, but thank Celestia that I never got in. They'd have asked me to kill a bunch of innocent children!"

The crowd booed.

"We're all upset right now, and rightfully so. The Equestrian military has let Cloudsdale down. For the last year, we've been living under constant terror of the moon crashing down onto our heads and destroying everything we've worked for our entire lives. How many of you have woken up from night terrors in the last year?"

Dozens of ponies in the crowd raised their hooves.

"And for what? Can anypony tell me why we haven't been able to work out a peace with the Second Kingdom? We did it before, why can't we do it again? Instead though, we're stuck in this truce limbo. The moon hangs above, looming over our lives.

"We've been told for the last year that it was all for the sake of peace. That we'd stop the moon, stop Blueblood, and reunite Equestria. That it would all be the same as it ever was. But we know now that this can never be. We've seen the wretched, rotten leadership of our military and government of Equestria. How is having them in charge any better than submitting to the Second Kingdom?"

The crowd cheered.

"For years, we've made sacrifices as a city. When Discord's army of wendigoes attacked, we all defended our own walls and rebuilt largely on our own. The ivory tower tax helped slightly, but Canterlot seceded before we collected as much money as we needed. When the Second Kingdom invaded, our city sent its brave young mares and stallions into harm's way to defend Ponyville. Many valiant soldiers lost their lives that day. When the war resumes, we will undoubtedly lose thousands more.

"Now that there is a truce, and the moon hangs over our heads, our city itself will be sacrificed to kill these children and save the cities on the ground from being trampled under the hooves of the Second Kingdom. We have sacrificed our lives and property for the rest of Equestria. We've bled for them. Have they ever done the same for us? Where were the troops from Ponyville when the Wendigoes attacked?"

"Nowhere!" the crowd said in unison.

"Exactly. We've sacrificed ourselves for the greater good of Equestria for many years for little if anything in return. But now, with this latest revelation, we've learned that they want us to make one last sacrifice: our morals.

"It's not enough that our citizens' lives have been taken. It's not enough that we'll soon have to sacrifice our city. No, they want us to sacrifice what makes us the honest, true, and good ponies we are. They want us to kill a barn full of children on the hope that we can win this war. They don't want us to kill for Cloudsdale, since the moon will demolish it. No, once again we are asked to sacrifice for the rest of Equestria with nothing in return but our own doom."

The crowd booed.

"And as soon as we do this, our city itself will cease to be. For when we sacrifice our morality and sacrifice these children, our punishment will be death by guillotine of rock."

Spitfire motioned up towards the moon.

"Now, there's only one way that we can avoid this. We can save our morality, save our city, and save these young unicorns from dying. We can do this by refusing to sacrifice for Equestria any longer."

The crowd cheered.

"We shall declare independence, and Cloudsdale will be its own nation! We'll make our own decisions, and we'll make a separate peace with the Second Kingdom!"

Some of the ponies in the crowd cheered, but some of them murmured confusedly. A few even booed.

"Now, I know what some of you are thinking. Secession? That's what the Second Kingdom did, and it's led to this civil war! To you, I say that we will found this new nation in peace rather than war. We won't attack this military building behind me; we won't kill any soldiers. We won't found our nation on the idea that we're above the other races. No, in fact, we are doing this to be treated as equals to them: no more, no less.

"To gain our independence, we will refuse to make any more sacrifices for Equestria until they allow us to make our own decisions as a free nation. Only then can our city and our people truly be equal with the rest of Equestria.

"I'm calling for a general strike. Nopony will work at the weather factory and produce rainbows, clouds, or rain. No pegasi will clear any clouds from any cities in Equestria. No wonderbolts or any ponies in the Equestrian Air Force will report for duty. We will not produce weather until Equestria grants us our independence. Then, when we are independent, we'll make peace with the Second Kingdom."

The crowd cheered.

"I will also extend this same offer to the other cloud cities, such as Los Pegasus. For though they have not been harmed in the same way that Cloudsdale has, and have not sacrificed as much, they have still made sacrifices for the ground-dwellers. And I can guarantee that as soon as Cloudsdale is no longer part of Equestria, one of those cities will be under this same guillotine of rock, forced to violate basic pony decency. No more! We shall form the Cloud Confederacy!"

The crowd went wild: screaming, hollering, and throwing hats into the air.

* * *

The next day at the Equestrian Air Force base was eerily quiet. The campus was almost entirely empty, save for a few pegasi here and there who hadn't heard about the general strike, agreed with the decision to bomb the barn, or simply refused to abandoned their posts.

Princess Luna, Princess Twilight, General Spitfire, and General Soarin, along with a few other commanding officers, sat inside of the meeting room.

"It's like a ghost town out there," said Twilight. "Nopony's at the weather factory. Almost nopony is here at the base. All because of our decision."

"It was still the right call," said Soarin. "These ponies on this strike are just college kids and undisciplined rebels. They don't understand the difficulties of making these decisions. And they're all fired up right now, sure, but it's the heat of the moment. Once they quit getting their paychecks, once they can no longer pay the bills, they'll start coming back to work."

"Are you so sure about that?" asked Princess Luna. "The strike might last longer than you think. Even Lieutenant Thunderlane is taking part in this strike. He's a high-ranking officer, and hardly a college reactionary."

"He's a traitor," Soarin scoffed. "He probably leaked the plan to Blueblood to begin with. He had no business being here at all."

"Except that he was a brilliant lieutenant," said Spitfire. "I doubt he betrayed us to Blueblood. He wasn't a yes-pony by any means, but how bad is having a voice of dissent?"

Soarin motioned towards the window with his hoof, pointing to the empty campus. "This is what dissent in the military brings: hardly a military at all. Dissent brings a breakdown in order. A true military pony never questions orders; he follows them."

"What if he believes the orders are wrong?" asked Spitfire.

"Ponies who aren't willing to unconditionally follow orders shouldn't be in the military," said Soarin, narrowing his eyebrows.

"Can we get back to the issue at hoof, here?" asked Princess Luna. "We have a group of ponies who wants to secede. Many of the military ponies are on strike, and we'll lose a large amount of our air superiority. We can't make the weather for Equestria. Our economy will weaken from this. If Blueblood wanted to break the truce, now would be the perfect time to attack."

"I say we let it run its course," said Soarin. "They can't stay home forever."

"Maybe they can be reasoned with," said Twilight Sparkle. "If we explained our justification, they might reconsider. One thing that Princess Celestia taught me was that friendship can solve any problem between ponies. We should try to make amends."

"We shouldn't explain our justification. This was and still remains a top-secret operation. There is no proof that we actually were going to do it," said Soarin.

"Except for the picture, the testimony of a high-ranking lieutenant, and who knows what other sources the Cloudsdale Courier has," Spitfire said.

"I read the article. It's still not definitive," said Soarin, shrugging.

"So, should we just release a statement denying it?" asked Twilight.

"That seems like a good idea to me," said Princess Luna. "Best to play damage control and defuse the situation."

Soarin nodded. "In the meantime, I'll be preparing to court martial every last one of the soldiers who've abandoned their posts. I won't have disorder running rampant through this military!"

Princess Luna glanced out the window onto the empty campus, chuckling. "You'll need to find a lot more judges, General Soarin."

* * *

Twilight Sparkle stood backstage at the Manehattan Conference Center as she heard the chattering of the dozens of newsponies who had gathered.

A single bead of sweat dripped down her face as her heart beat in her chest. She glanced over at the wall clock. Only one minute left to go.

_You can do this, Twilight. It's only a speech. Just a three minute speech._

Her brow furrowed.

_A speech which tells a lie to all of Equestria! How can I lie to my subjects… No. I have to. I can't doubt myself now. The integrity of Equestria depends on it… but it's so wrong! Well, so was the decision to kill those fillies and colts… it's for the greater good._

Yes, the greater good. The same way which she had justified the act itself. Better to only sacrifice a hundred fillies and colts than have millions of them perish over years of prolonged war. Better to lie about the act itself than to tell the truth and further divide Equestria.

She stood up tall as she walked onstage and over to the podium. She squinted as dozens and dozens of camera flashes blinded her. She took the microphone in her magic and spoke.

"Fillies and gentlecolts of the Equestrian media. I have called this press conference to respond to some of the recent allegations which the Cloudsdale Courier printed yesterday.

"A former lieutenant in the Wonderbolts has accused the Equestrian Air Force of plotting to destroy a barn full of dozens of unicorn fillies and colts in order to bring this war to a speedy close. These supposedly were unicorns who were born to earth ponies and able to grow crops, and are allegedly held by the Second Kingdom forces at a barn near occupied Ponyville.

"I can assure you that nothing is further from the truth. This barn does not exist, and there are no unicorn fillies and colts inside. Even if these unicorn fillies and colts did exist, and even if they held the key to ending the war, we would not simply summarily execute them. We would make every attempt to save them, and if they could not be saved, we would let them live.

"We are a nation which sticks together. We never sacrifice each other for the purposes of our own gain. Equestria is founded on the principles of unity and friendship, and we would rather die and lose the war before sacrificing who we are.

"Based on the principle of unity, I would kindly ask for those of you who are participating in this strike to return to work. Though we are in a truce, the war with the Second Kingdom could resume at any moment, and we need everypony at their posts in order to be prepared for that day. Cloudsdale is a key part of Equestria, and without it, our nation wouldn't survive. We do not seek to use and abuse Cloudsdale for our own means; we respect the contributions of its citizens. Thank you.

"Now, in the interest of transparency, I will answer a few questions from the media."

At this, the ponies gathered in the room began shouting out dozens of questions. Neither Twilight nor Luna had given a press conference since the war began over a year ago, and there was pent-up demand for answers.

Twilight pointed to a pony who had raised his hoof near the front of the auditorium.

"Yes, you over there."

"Breaking News with the Hollow Shades Sentinel. Why hasn't Equestria attempted to broker a peace deal with the Second Kingdom?"

Twilght answered, "Well, Mister News, we actually have been attempting to broker a peace deal, but King Blueblood insists that we give up yet more of our land and resources for peace. We've already negotiated with him once, when he formed his kingdom years ago. He broke the promises he made then, and we will not reward this behavior and risk him doing it again. Yes, ma'am?"

She pointed towards a mare at the rear of the room.

"Front Paige with the Dodge Junction Journal. How can you say that you care for Cloudsdale when it will be destroyed as soon as the truce ends? Why not give Blueblood the land that he wants to save a city of millions from being destroyed?"

"Because, Miss Paige, ponies like Blueblood are never satisfied. If we give him Ponyville today, he'll want your very own town of Dodge Junction tomorrow. And then, I guarantee that you'll wish that we'd drawn a line a lot sooner. We are drawing the line with him right now."

She paused for a moment to let the full weight of her statement sink in.

"Yes, you sir, over there?"

"Stoppen Presses with the Cloudsdale Courier. As the newspaper which originally broke this story, we carefully vetted our sources before sending it to print. We pride ourselves in journalistic integrity, and would never willfully publish a lie. We are no tabloid; we ensure that we only publish stories which are corroborated by multiple sources."

Twilight nodded.

Presses continued, "Given that, I have only a few questions for you. How can you say that this barn doesn't exist, when our journalists have spoken to the Apple family who once lived there? How can you say that these unicorn children don't exist, when we've spoken to many of their parents? How can you say that you didn't plan to bomb the barn, when I spoke to a top level lieutenant as well as a general who both have confirmed this plan? They gave the minutes of the meeting in which you made this decision, and they gave drafts of the airstrike plan."

Twilight Sparkle remained silent. Beads of sweat gathered on her forehead. _How will I answer this question? Will I call them all liars? Will I admit to lying? What will I do?_

"Princess Sparkle?" Presses asked.

Finally, she spoke. "No comment."

The reporters angrily demanded that she answer the question, and they hit her with a barrage of new questions, but Twilight simply walked backstage once more.

* * *

Lightning Dust and a crowd of thousands of ponies flew through the air, down the streets of Manehattan, as they held picket signs and chanted slogans.

"Free Cloudsdale! Free Cloudsdale! Free Cloudsdale!" they yelled.

The sheer number of pegasi blocked out the sun, casting a shadow over the city. Residents of the city below stopped for a moment and glanced up from their walking to see the ponies above, but mostly went about their business as normal.

The procession finally reached the capitol building, stopping just before reaching it. A group of police ponies on the ground stood firm against the oncoming protesters, blocking them from going any further. Ponies pushed up against the barricade, and a few of them flew over it, but most of the ponies stayed behind the police line.

Inside of her throne room, Princess Twilight spoke to Princess Luna as they both gazed out the window to the crowd outside.

"Looks like this isn't just limited to Cloudsdale anymore," Twilight observed. Luna nodded.

"We can't let them break off from Equestria. We need the pegasi forces to help us hold back Blueblood when the war resumes. Without Cloudsdale's military, we'll lose a lot of ground to him," said Luna.

"I agree," said Twilight Sparkle.

"I suppose that there's nothing left to do besides wait," said Luna.

Twilight sighed. "I guess. I tried to address them in that press conference. That didn't seem to help matters. Maybe it will all just blow over."

Luna nodded.

* * *

The protests continued for days, drawing crowds of thousands. Traffic in Manehattan came to a crawl as ponies had difficulty navigating around the pegasi, police officers, and other ponies who packed the city streets and the air around the city.

Besides the extra traffic, life in Manehattan was normal. The daily trading bells chimed as hundreds of businessponies wearing suits and hats filed into the trading floor at the Manehattan Stock Exchange building. They, unlike many others, were used to navigating anxious, noisy crowds; it was in their job descriptions as day-traders.

The traders navigated through the throngs of ponies on the trading floor. Ponies held up bundles of cash, bonds, and stock certificates. Despite all of the seeming chaos on the trading floor, ponies still managed to buy and sell stocks. Ticker tape spilled out onto the floor as dozens of traders shouted buy and sell offers for any number of various stocks.

Then, one thursday morning, a loud boom echoed through the hall of the Manehattan Stock Exchange. A giant orange fireball enveloped everything in its path, blowing out windows and throwing ponies against the wall.

That moment dashed the princess' hopes that everything would just blow over.


	12. Shoulder Pegasus

"How many dead?"

"Three."

"Hundred?"

"No, just three."

Twilight Sparkle blinked at the Manehattan Chief of Police. "Just _three_?"

The police chief nodded. "From what our forensics analysts can tell, it was placed in a trash can right outside the front entrance, rather than inside of the exchange itself. Had it been inside of the exchange on the trading floor, with such tightly packed ponies, there would've been dozens of deaths."

"Hmm," muttered Twilight. "I wonder why they didn't place it _inside_ the exchange? Surely they must have known that doing that would have maximized the deaths."

The chief shrugged.

"Thanks for your help, Chief."

The chief bowed and exited the room.

"Perhaps whoever did this meant it as a warning sign," Luna theorized.

"_Whoever did this_?" Soarin scoffed. "As if it's any mystery. We all know it was those Cloudsdale separatists."

"Now Soarin, let's not jump to conclusions," said Twilight.

Spitfire nodded. "The separatist movement has only been around for all of two weeks. I doubt they've had the time to construct a bomb and plan this themselves."

Luna nodded. "For all we know, this could've been a false flag attack by Blueblood. He knows all too well that if Cloudsdale were separate from Equestria, we would be weakened and he could attack. The Cloudsdale separatists might not have been involved."

"Does it matter?" asked Soarin. "Cloudsdale separatists or Blueblood, both are on the same side. Where do you think that the Cloudsdale Courier got those photographs of the unicorn children in the first place? I'd bet my left flank that Blueblood's been planning all this just to drive a wedge in our nation."

"And it appears to be working," Luna muttered.

"Whether the Cloudsdale separatists did it themselves or had Blueblood do it for them, there's no denying the incidents are related," said Soarin.

"So, ideas for what we should do?" asked Twilight Sparkle.

"I say that we double down on security throughout Equestria, and declare martial law. We can't let anypony believe that we are willing to negotiate with terrorists. That's the quickest way to have the population lose faith in our ability to govern," said Soarin.

"What happens if we face more attacks despite whatever new security measures we put into place? This was an obvious warning; I doubt that next time we'd get off with only three dead. Wouldn't more attacks also cause ponies to lose faith?" asked Spitfire.

Twilight sighed. "It's times like this that I wish Princess Celestia were still here. She was quite the statespony, and could probably tell us exactly what to do to keep favor with the public."

"Well, I doubt she would've signed off on foalcide," Spitfire quipped. Twilight glared at the pegasus, and she blushed.

Soarin said, "She'd support the unity of Equestria, and would be steadfast and uncompromising, just like when she refused to just let the Second Kingdom declare independence."

"But look what that led to," said Luna. "The Second Kingdom went to war with Equestria and gained independence anyway, except that thousands died. Thousands more are sure to die when the ceasefire is broken. Had she negotiated with them from the start—"

"Then what?" asked Soarin. "Then they still would have attacked, just like they did two years ago after the _first _treaty. There was peace, but _they_ broke it. They're nothing but a bunch of greedy pigs, and they're never satisfied. They just take and take and take to feed their delusions of racial grandeur. There's no negotiating with ponies who aren't loyal to anything but themselves and their own fantasies."

"Well," Twilight started. "You both make good points…"

Soarin and Luna gazed at Twilight Sparkle expectantly. Spitfire looked indifferent.

"I think that we should allow Cloudsdale to vote on its own independence and respect its wishes."

Luna smiled, and Soarin scowled.

Twilight continued, "You're right that Blueblood and his followers are greedy and irrational, Soarin. Princess Celestia was right to not negotiate with them, despite the fact that ponies died in their war of independence, and despite the fact that ponies will die when they resume their war with us.

"But Cloudsdale is different from Canterlot. These ponies like Lightning Dust, Thunderlane, and Stoppen Presses aren't in this for some geopolitical chess game. They aren't in this out of some delusion of racial superiority like Blueblood. They aren't doing it for themselves, other than to save their own city and homes from destruction. They aren't doing this for some greedy power grab or land grab.

"No, they're doing this because they see Equestria as an immoral, unfair society that they no longer want to be part of. Anything that we do to keep them joined to us will only make them more convinced that we're just using them for our own selfish interests, whether or not that's actually true. Whether we declare martial law, hold military tribunals to prosecute all the deserters, or hold ourselves aloof and refuse to acknowledge their concerns, we'll drive them further away. I know because I tried that at the press conference. I shied away from the reporters and didn't answer their questions. I treated them as their better, like they didn't deserve my answers to their questions. All that led to was the worst protests that we've seen in years, and it likely led to this bombing, too.

"Letting them vote will at least show them that we care about their interests. It will allow them a choice. They will no longer want to set off bombs when they have a peaceful solution available to them. Politics is a constructive outlet, and the vote will help us keep the peace more than any extra security.

"A vote will also allow us to state our case. Right now, whenever somepony from our government speaks to the citizens of Cloudsdale, they see a dictatorship. They feel they're being talked down to and being given orders. Letting them vote would mean that we are talking to them not as subjects, not as subordinates, but as equals. And that's exactly how they want to be treated. When we can talk to them as equals, we can make the case for why Equestria must stay united in the face of evil tyrants like Blueblood, or else we'll all end up under his hoof one day. Then, when we make the case to them as equals, they might listen and vote to stand with us.

"Even if they don't listen, if they are independent, Blueblood has just lost most of his leverage against Equestria. He won't be able to hold Cloudsdale hostage anymore. The city will be safe. His unicorn magicians will have to raise the moon back into its place in the sky. True, with Cloudsdale independent, we won't have as many air troops. But we'll still have the pegasi from the rest of Equestria. We'll still have those who decide to abandon a newly-independent Cloudsdale and come fight for Equestria.

"And remember, this war won't last forever. Say that Cloudsdale votes for independence. Eventually, when we win—"

"_If_ we win," Luna corrected.

"If we win, and if the Second Kingdom falls, Equestria will be reunited, and then perhaps Cloudsdale will see that they want to become part of a newly-reunited Equestria.

"Allowing them to vote gives us options to stop an insurgency. It gives Cloudsdale options to either save themselves or stand with us against Blueblood. Right now, with no vote, we have no options. With a vote, we have them, and so does Cloudsdale."

[hr]

**Cloudsdale, August 2nd, 2022**

The sun rose over the eastern horizon, blanketing Cloudsdale in a warm blanket. The moon stood a few kilometers up, ominous as ever. It was just like every other day over the past two years, with one exception: today was the long-awaited election day.

Every building in Cloudsdale was plastered with posters advocating for or against the secession of Cloudsdale from Equestria.

"Save your house, vote Cloudsdale out of Equestria!" one poster screamed.

"Loyalty to the crown!" another poster yelled, with a picture of an Equestrian flag on it.

It had been the most bitterly fought campaign in the history of the sky city, with both sides fiercely holding their ground… but it had been fought with ballots instead of bullets. For the most part, ponies had refrained from violence, and the explosion at the stock exchange had been the deadliest incident since the barn bombing plot had come to light in January. There had been many bar fights and one or two hoofball riots, but few deaths.

Lines at the polling places stretched for blocks and blocks, and ponies waited for hours just to get into the voting booths. Today was a chilly day, and voters wore scarves and coats to keep warm. A few ponies flew around with trays filled with cups of hot cocoa, making sure to only give them to those voters who wore campaign buttons that they agreed with.

Among the ponies waiting in line, Spitfire stood with Pound Cake.

"Spitfire, why are we waiting here?" asked Pound Cake, impatiently shivering as he flew around in circles to stay warm.

Spitfire chuckled. "Stay still for a moment, and I'll tell you."

Pound stopped and hovered in the air beside Spitfire.

"Today is a day that you'll remember for the rest of your life, Pound. You'll tell your children about this. I want you to be here to see history in the making."

Pound puzzled. "I don't get it."

"Today, Cloudsdale is going to vote on independence."

"What about you?"

"I plan to vote for us to stay part of Equestria."

"Why, though? Equestria was going to kill my sister. If we stay with Equestria, Cloudsdale will be smashed by the moon," said Pound.

Spitfire paused for a moment, and then asked, "Why do you care for your sister, Pound?"

Pound blinked. "Well, because she's my sister. I'd do anything for her."

"Would you ever abandon her?"

Pound blushed. "Well, I mean I tried to rescue her at the barn, but—"

"You gave it your best shot despite the odds. Yes, you failed, but you tried."

Pound nodded.

"You're loyal to her because you love her no matter what. Have you ever been in a fight with her before?" Spitfire asked as the line crept along.

Pound chuckled. "All the time. Sometimes we'd have pretend wars with our dolls and action figures, and one of us would lose, and we'd actually get into a fight in real life. Sometimes we'd fight over other things, like who got the last piece of cake."

"But you still loved her despite that?"

"Yes. I'll always love her," said Pound, smiling. "She's my sister!"

Spitfire smiled. "Now you know why I have to vote no to independence. Yes, Equestria isn't perfect. Yes, I don't agree with all of their decisions. I'll never agree with their decision to bomb that barn. I did everything in my power to stop it, and will still keep trying to stop it. Say you found out your sister was doing something terrible like stealing, doing drugs, or even killing other ponies. You would try to stop her, right?"

"Yeah."

"But you'd still love her and stay with her no matter what she did. I know you would. You wanted to risk your own life to go down and save her just a few months ago."

Pound nodded. The line inched forward.

"You love her because you're her brother, and always will be. In the same way, we are Equestrian, and always will be. If we leave, we leave the rest of Equestria at the mercy of Blueblood's forces. Equestria will very likely be overrun without the pegasi of Cloudsdale there to provide air support.

"True love is sticking with someone no matter what they do. It's unconditional. I love my country, Pound. I could never vote to leave it. One day, we'll win the war. One day, we'll win the civil war and reunite Equestria. But our nation won't be whole again without Cloudsdale."

Spitfire didn't know anypony else but Pound was paying attention to her, but a few seconds after she had finished speaking, several of the ponies in line clapped.

"That was a beautiful speech, miss," one mare said.

"Bravo," said a stallion.

"Eh, whatever," said a mare who didn't clap. She rolled her eyes, chuckling. "Patriotism won't save my house from the moon. My vote will."

Pound felt a slight bit of churning in his stomach at hearing this treasonous pony, as he realized Spitfire was right. How could the mare vote for her own property when an entire nation was at stake? How could she ever abandon her country for her own selfish reasons? Did she not know she was a part of something bigger than herself, bigger than Cloudsdale?

Finally, Spitfire and Pound Cake reached the polling station. Pound stood outside and Spitfire entered the voting booth, casting her ballot. Despite the privacy curtain she stood behind, everypony in town knew exactly what she voted for. She exited, and flew back to her house with Pound Cake.

The next day, the ballots were counted and the results came in. Sixty-five percent of Cloudsdale voted to become an independent nation, while only thirty-five percent voted to remain part of Equestria. Though the results surprised Pound Cake and Spitfire, they didn't shock the professional pollsters. In fact, the pollsters were more shocked at the number of ponies who voted to stay part of Equestria.

A few ponies, like Thunderlane, voted just because they detested Equestria's decision to commit war crimes. But the driving force was ponies' desire to preserve their city. There might as well have been a miniature pegasus sitting on the shoulder of each voter, prodding them and whispering in their ear, urging them to vote themselves out of Equestria to save their own homes.

[hr]

**Cloudsdale, January 2023**

Ponies waved and threw confetti into the air as the caravan flew down the street of Cloudsdale towards the capitol building. Pegasi carried chariots behind them, in which a delegation of unicorns sat.

The chariots arrived at the capitol, and the unicorns stepped out onto the clouds, enchanted to walk on them. The crowd cheered cheered the unicorns as they entered the building. King Blueblood smiled and waved to the crowd as he walked through the door.

Blueblood and his delegation walked down the hallway and into the conference room. He walked in, where the government of the newly-formed Cloud Confederacy sat. They stood up to greet the delegation.

"King Blueblood," said Lightning Dust, shaking his hoof.

"President Lightning Dust," he said, shaking her hoof back.

Lightning Dust had won in a landslide election in November. She'd promised to sign a peace treaty with the Second Kingdom, and promised that Cloudsdale would never go to war again. She lacked much practical experience in leadership beyond organizing the campaign for independence, but her reputation, speeches, and bold promises of reform catapulted her into the new country's highest office.

The Cloud Confederacy was a nation composed of Cloudsdale and Los Pegasus, which also seceded shortly after Cloudsdale. The other cloud cities were expected to follow suit as soon as this peace treaty was signed. After all, if Blueblood could threaten Cloudsdale with the moon, he could threaten any city in the sky with the moon. So long as Equestria was still at war with the Second Kingdom, no cloud city was safe while it was still part of Equestria. The Cloud Confederacy promised them the safety that Equestria could not.

A crowd had gathered in the rotunda of the captial building where they could see the conference room through a window in the wall.

A grey-maned older unicorn levitated the peace treaty in front of him, which he read from.

"_King Blueblood, the leader of the Second Kingdom of Unicornia, and President Lightning Dust, the leader of the Confederation of Cloudsdale and Los Pegasus, hereby resolve on today, January 5th, 2023, that their two nations should now and forevermore be peaceful neighbors and conduct normal relations with each other._

_The undersigned hereby decree that peace shall reign supreme over both lands. The Second Kingdom additionally agrees to raise the moon back into its proper place in the sky, and the Cloud Confederacy agrees that none of its citizens shall hold any military positions in the armed forces of Equestria, lest their citizenship be revoked."_

Lightning Dust took the pen in her hoof, and Blueblood took the pen in his magic, and they both signed the treaty. The crowd outside cheered. Blueblood and Lightning Dust exited the building and the crowd showered them with confetti, cheering them both.

The delegation of unicorns who had traveled with King Blueblood lit up their horns, and for the first time in over two years, the moon lifted back up into the sky. The pegasi squinted their eyes as the sun shone in its full brightness. They cheered as the cloak of dimness was finally gone.


	13. Acts of Strength, Marks of Fate

**Ponyville, February 2013**

The light dimmed as night time fell upon the small town of Ponyville. Residents went inside of their homes, finishing up the day's work.

Outside of the town, the Second Kingdom unicorn forces hurriedly packed up tents, munitions, and other supplies into their saddlebags. The commanding officers barked orders at the soldiers, who hurriedly formed into lines.

Soon, the division had packed up all of its tents and supplies. Soldiers muttered excitedly as General Top Brass stood before them.

"Stallions! Today is the culmination of two years of waiting. Today, we finish what we started two years ago. Without the pegasi armies of Cloudsdale or Los Pegasus providing Equestrian air support, our job is made much easier. We now have a clear path to victory, as outlined in King Blueblood's brilliant new strategy to win the war.

"Now, here are your marching orders…"

header

**Everfree Forest, March 2023**

Thirteen-year-old Pumpkin Cake was out taking a walk in the forest. She was not on any sort of ingredient-hunting mission, rather she was out to stretch her legs a bit.

May of this year would be the two-year anniversary of when she moved in with Zecora. Like her brother, she missed Ponyville, but knew that she could never go back. The Second Kingdom soldiers would see her and recognize her as an escaped unicorn farmer. Though Zecora had given her a potion to heal the brand on her flank, Pumpkin imagined that the soldiers would likely be on the lookout for any young unicorn mares like herself. Thus, she hadn't been to Ponyville since she had escaped Sweet Apple Acres.

Besides, she had everything that she needed at Zecora's. She had a caring guardian, food, shelter, and magic teaching. She and Zecora hadn't been entirely isolated from the outside world, though. Pumpkin Cake had been on a few trips with Zecora to Dodge Junction, the closest other town to the Everfree Forest. Zecora felt it was important to get Pumpkin to socialize and play with other ponies, particularly since there were no other ponies her age around in the forest.

Unlike Pound, Pumpkin was homeschooled. In addition to Zecora's magical knowledge, she knew quite a bit about the traditional school subjects such as Grammar, Math, and Science, and had been teaching Pumpkin all she knew. Due to her foreign birth, Zecora's knowledge of pony history was a bit patchy, but Pumpkin Cake learned a lot of history from the events taking place around her. As Zecora had once mentioned, these were historic times.

Indeed, on their trips to Dodge Junction, Pumpkin Cake often heard other ponies speak about events happening elsewhere in Equestria. Over the past few months she had heard about Cloudsdale seceding. She had heard of the barn bombing plot, and had breathed a sigh of relief that she had escaped from Sweet Apple Acres when she did.

On her last trip a few weeks ago, Pumpkin Cake had heard that the Second Kingdom had finally broken the ceasefire. They captured the few areas of Ponyville that they didn't yet control and moved the fillies and colts from the barn up to the northern Flatlands to begin farming. She didn't know anything beyond that, but assumed that she and Zecora were safe in the Everfree Forest.

On this day, she was proven wrong.

As she walked along, she heard stallions speaking. Pumpkin Cake ducked behind a thick tree trunk, which concealed her from their view.

"...in this Blueblood-forsaken forest, anyway? I must have a million mosquito bites by now," a unicorn stallion spoke. Pumpkin could see him off in the distance. He appeared to be levitating a machete in his magic, and was swinging at foliage.

"We have our orders, private," said a cyan stallion. "We're to patrol the forest and clear a path for the army until we reach the river. Any ponies we find, we're to shoot on sight. Can't have the Equestrians finding out that we're in here; we'd lose the element of surprise."

"Yes, sarge," said a green stallion. Catching a closer look, she discovered that there were just three of them.

Pumpkin gulped as she looked behind her. Zecora's hut was only a kilometer or so away. She began to sweat. They'd find her and kill her.

_Got to come up with something fast,_ she thought.

She weighed her options.

She could teleport back to Zecora's and warn her, and they both could run away. But she couldn't teleport nearly that far, and the noise and the white flash would give her away. The the soldiers would know she was there, and they'd hunt her down. She had her intangibility spell, sure, but she could only stay intangible for so long. She couldn't run while intangible; she could only travel at a walking pace, so they'd keep up with her just fine until it wore off and then shoot her in the head.

She could try to sneak off without teleporting, but she had a bright orange mane that would give her away. She didn't know any invisibility spells, because those were only for the highest level unicorns. So there went that idea.

As she mulled her options, she realized that she hadn't considered actually staying to fight them. So, going against her first instinct to just turn tail and run, she swallowed, steadied herself, and then jumped out from behind the tree, directly in front of the three soldiers.

"Kill her!" the sergeant shouted. All three stallions drew their weapons and fired at Pumpkin Cake, just as she turned intangible. Their bullets passed harmlessly through her as the soldiers emptied their clips.

"How's she still standing?" one private asked.

"The bullets passed right through her. That's impossible!" said the other private.

"Turn back now, or else!" Pumpkin Cake commanded, floating towards them, still intangible. She hoped that her spell wouldn't wear off before they left.

"It's a ghost!" said one of the ponies, the color draining from his face.

"A phantom!" said another.

"Ghosts aren't real! Stand your ground! This is some sort of trick," said the sergeant.

Pumpkin Cake grinned as she got an idea.

"I am the Phantom of the Forest," said Pumpkin Cake. "Leave and never return again, or I'll curse you all with terrible diseases!"

"Run!" cried one of the privates, who started to run away until the sergeant grabbed him with his magic and pulled him back.

The sergeant turned to the private. "Keep it together! I'll have you court martialed! Curses aren't real, either!"

Pumpkin Cake saw her chance. She briefly turned solid once more so that she could use her telekinesis. She grabbed a stick from the ground, turned it intangible, and placed it inside of the sergeant's front hoof. Then, she made the stick solid again while it was still in his hoof.

"AAAAH!" the sergeant cried out, the stick displacing his flesh as it came back into existence. His skin and muscle ripped apart as blood spilled everywhere, and he fell to the ground.

"It's a terrible disease!" the two privates screamed, running away.

Abandoned by his stallions, the sergeant turned back towards Pumpkin Cake. She slowly walked up to him, scowling, as his jaw trembled and his pupils widened.

He whimpered, tears streaming down his face. "Don't… don't kill me… I was just following orders... I have a family…"

Pumpkin Cake scowled at him. She just stood there for a few seconds, contemplating what he had said. Finally, she spoke.

"So did I."

Then, with the last of her magic, Pumpkin Cake cast a teleport spell, disappearing out of the sergeant's sight. She reappeared close to Zecora's hut, physically exhausted from all the magic she'd used. She sat down in the underbrush, catching her breath.

For the first time in two years, she cried over the loss of her parents. She didn't bother fighting her tears or hiding from her sadness this time. She was too tired. The realization set in that the Second Kingdom, which had taken both of her parents, which had separated her from her brother, now wanted to take Zecora, the only family she had left. History would repeat itself, and she would be left with nopony but herself, and then they would kill her too.

She sniffled and bawled for several minutes.

But then, she stopped. History wouldn't repeat; it was different this time. She looked up at her horn. She now had the power to stop it. Before, she had been powerless, but she was strong now. They could no longer take from her without a fight.

Her tears of sorrow turned to tears of joy as she finally understood. She still missed her parents dearly, and not a second went by when she didn't wish for them back. But their deaths wouldn't be in vain because now, she had discovered the strength at her core.

Despite those soldier's machine guns, they had no power over her. They were powerless to control or even touch her anymore, and they had all fled in terror before her. She decided at that moment that she would continue to fight until every oppressor in all the land fled or died, and everypony could truly live free from those who sought to hurt or control them.

It was her purpose in life.

A brilliant flash of light shone from Pumpkin Cake's flank as her cutie mark appeared: a symbol of a blue outline of a pony.

**Mareicopa, April 2013**

The bright midday desert sun shone down upon the sprawling city of Mareicopa. Residents of the city wore heavy sunglasses and wide-brimmed hats to stay warm on this sweltering day. During the summer months, the heat would be so unbearable that most residents would either stay inside or go to the swimming pool. Nearly every house had a swimming pool in the backyard. Air conditioning, a luxury in most other parts of Equestria, was a must here.

The city couldn't survive were it not for the Everfree River which carried life-sustaining water from tributaries in the Canterlot mountain through the Everfree forest, west to Mareicopa, then through Las Pegasus and finally out to sea. Aqueducts built on this river carried it into water reservoirs in the city.

Outside the city in the desert, snakes slithered into the sand, buzzards flew off into the air, and jackrabbits hid behind cacti as the ground shook from the rhythmic stomping of thousands of unicorn hooves. The troops followed the winding path of the Everfree River, closing in on the city.

Spitfire was relaxing on a deck chair beside the swimming pool at her new home. Pound Cake was swimming laps around the pool. After the physical training regimen which Spitfire had put him through for the past three years, he was now a muscular and physically-fit pony.

"Alright, that's enough swimming. You can just relax if you want," said Spitfire, glancing down at her watch.

"Okay," said Pound, breathing heavily as he came to a stop.

"Good job today, Pound."

"Thanks…" he said. "Just wish that it was a bit nicer outside, and less hot. Even in the pool, I'm burning up."

Spitfire chuckled. "You think that you'll be able to decide what the weather is when the Second Kingdom comes?"

Pound didn't answer.

"That's what I thought," said Spitfire, grinning.

"I do miss all my friends in Cloudsdale, though," he said as he climbed out of the pool and dried himself off.

"So do I, but you remember the laws they passed. I couldn't just keep my position in the Equestrian air force and stay there too."

"Yeah," Pound conceded.

A warning siren sounded off in the distance, along with several explosions.

Spitfire's head jolted up.

"What's going on?" asked Pound.

"One of the Second Kingdom's battalions has been marching west down the Everfree River towards Mareicopa for months. We've been holding them off as best as we could, but I guess now they've finally arrived. I have to go to the military base. If the Second Kingdom makes it past our forces and into the city, you know what to do."

"Fly straight to Manehattan," said Pound Cake.

"You got it, said Spitfire, nodding. "You'll find the Princesses as well as Rainbow Dash there, and they can find you a new home. I hope it doesn't come to that, but in case I don't see you again…"

She grabbed Pound Cake tightly in a hug.

"I love you, Pound Cake. You're like the son I never had."

A single tear formed in Pound Cake's eye. "I love you too. Thank you for everything. All your training, your teaching."

Spitfire let him go and looked him in the eye. "You're a good kid, Pound Cake. Never forget who you are and where you come from. Keep Equestria in your heart, no matter what happens. Now I have a battle to fight! See you around, kid!"

She grinned at him, and then ran into the house. She quickly dressed in her Equestrian officer's attire, and then bolted out the door, flying towards the military base.

Ponies clad in military vests ran through the streets of Mareicopa, ordering all civilians to get indoors. Ponies scrambled to get back to their homes. One mare pointed in shock towards the eastern horizon, where she could see the shadows of the thousands of ponies approaching.

Explosions rocked the eastern desert, as pegasi forces dropped bombs on the incoming unicorns.

General Spitfire flew through the gates to the military base, where she went to the rallying point for a group of soldiers.

She spoke, "We are the only line of defense stopping the Second Kingdom from overrunning this city! Since Las Pegasus seceded, if the Second Kingdom forces get past us, there's no stopping them from making their way to the western sea. Now, get out there and fight!"

They all saluted, and rushed out the door towards their positions.

General Top Brass stood with his soldiers as the unicorn magicians cast and re-cast protective force-fields against the incoming missiles.

"Counter-attack!" he commanded. Unicorn artillery forces loaded rockets into launchers, got into position, and fired them towards the military base.

Tanks from the Mareicopa base drove out across the desert, blasting at the unicorn lines. The unicorn wizards projected force fields, which did not withstand the incoming missiles. Explosions ripped the front lines of the unicorn army as many stallions fell to the concussive forces of the rockets.

General Top Brass ordered his top telekinetics to the front lines, where they raised a temporary barrier of sand in front of the incoming tank missiles. The wall of sand towered three meters high, and completely blocked the Equestrians' view of the Second Kingdom forces.

Mareicopan earth pony soldiers ran into position and smashed through some of the sand barriers with their hooves, shooting at the unicorn telekinetic magicians. They took out some, but most of the barrier still remained, providing the unicorns with a moving shield to fire from behind. Artillery unicorns poked holes in the sand and fired through at Equestrian forces as needed.

The pegasus brigades from Mareicopa flew out into the desert, far above where the unicorns stood. There were less pegasi forces now than there were at the battle of Ponyville, given that much of the air force had left with the Cloud Confederacy. The unicorn planes, which had been improved since the battle of Ponyville, flew over to meet them. The planes now had reinforced cockpits, and dual machine guns. The biplanes were also joined by a few new, metallic-winged monoplanes which were more maneuverable than their predecessors.

The unicorn pilots strafed the pegasus fighters, who responded by shooting back at the planes. The high-caliber rounds from the planes tore through the pegasi like tissue paper, and they fell to the ground a bloody mess. The pegasus fighters managed to smash a few of the cockpits and kill some of the pilots. The ensuing dogfight lasted for several hours, with both sides sustaining heavy losses, but with the unicorns coming out ahead in their first air victory of the war.

Now with free reign over the skies, the unicorn bombers dropped bombs on the Equestrian tanks, blowing them to pieces. A few of the bombers fell as the tanks blasted them out of the sky, but they were no match for the unicorn air superiority.

The unicorn bombers went into position over the barracks, dropping bombs on silos. The silos exploded as the troops within them fled for cover, out into the city. The unicorn bombers continued into the city, indiscriminately dropping bombs over every target they could find: government buildings and civilian homes alike.

Pound Cake, who had already grabbed his bug-out bag, glanced up into the sky and saw the unicorn bombers flying. He grimaced in anger and determination, remembering what Spitfire told him, as he took off into the sky to leave for Manehattan.

Pound could see hundreds of ponies running around in the streets frantically screaming and trying to avoid the bombs and take shelter. These ponies appeared smaller and smaller in size as he ascended into the heavens. He could see the bombers and fighter jets, but he ascended to far above them where they couldn't fire at him. Not that they would notice a single pegasus among the panicking crowds.

Off in the distance, he could see the Everfree River. He could see the earth pony brigades retreating towards the city, and the thousands of unicorn troops advancing towards it. The Everfree River would lead him towards the Everfree Forest, and provide a source of drinking water in the desert heat. Once he reached the Everfree Forest, he would follow the Baltimare River towards the Horseshoe Bay, and then follow Equestria's east coast up until he reached Manehattan.

He hovered in the air for a second. Just as he was about to fly off in the direction of the Everfree River, a series of explosions jolted the ground below him.

He glanced down and saw that in Spitfire's neighborhood, half of the homes were now smoldering craters.

His brow furrowed and he gritted his teeth. Those Second Kingdom scum were attacking civilians in his very own neighborhood! Did they have no respect for the laws of war, for their fellow ponies?

He gazed down at one of the bombers, his eyes searing under both the desert heat and his uncontrollable fury. He shook his head, and remembered what Spitfire had taught him. Her techniques required focus, not rage.

He cleared his mind, stilled his wings and entered a free-fall. He rapidly gained speed as he neared the bomber. Even in the sun's scorching heat, the whipping gusts at his coat chilled him to the bone.

As Pound extended both of his hooves in front of him, a white cone of air began to form in front of them. Crackling and echoing boomed through the air as he approached the speed of sound. He aimed his hooves square towards the wing of the bomber as he focused all of his energy towards his hooves. One lapse in concentration and he would end up with his blood and guts splattered all over the wing.

With a loud Clank, Pound Cake hit the wing of the bomber. The aluminum wing folded beneath his sheer speed and strength as he continued dive-bombing towards the ground. He flapped his wings and zipped back up towards the sky, his momentum carrying him upward as he hit another bomber on the wing. Gravity and the collision caught up to him, and he came to a stop in midair as he gazed down towards the bombers.

They flew out of control, entering tailspins as the pilots ejected and deployed their parachutes. The bombers exploded into fireballs on the ground below.

Pound Cake heard the crackling of machine gun fire as he turned around and noticed that two fighter planes had spotted him and noticed that he had taken down the bombers. He quickly flew up and over them, soaring high into the sky until he was out of their range.

Breaking the airplanes' wings was a feat not many pegasi would've been able to do without crashing or killing themselves. Though it would have been effective, its inherent risk mean that it wasn't a sanctioned military tactic. But Spitfire had trained Pound Cake well, and he had practice cracking cement blocks in two in her backyard.

Those Second Kingdom soldiers were evil, callous monsters, Pound thought as he flew. They had no loyalty to anypony but themselves, and no desire to see peace or equality prevail. They would kill anypony in a heartbeat without so much as a second thought. Even if they were just following orders, their behavior was inexcusable and unfair.

Even though there were no courts to try them in, and no police who could round them up, they had broken the laws of war and deserved to be brought to justice. Pound glanced back down at the ground at the smouldering wreckage of the bombers and smiled. That was justice, and he had the strength of body and the purity of heart to deal it fairly.

At that moment, he knew. He would bring all of the evildoers to justice. He would reunite Equestria, and nopony would ever claim to be any better than anypony else again. The racist leaders in Canterlot and the separatist leaders in Cloudsdale would face their day in court, and then everypony else could live as equals.

It was his purpose in life.

A brilliant flash of light shone from Pound Cake's flank as his cutie mark appeared: a symbol of two jetwings.


	14. Constrictor

Canterlot, April 2023

On the side of a grand mountain, right in the middle of the Equestrian continent, visible from many miles away, the city of Canterlot stood.

It once was Equestria's capital, standing proud over a united country. Now, from the secessionist Second Kingdom, its domes and newly-constructed steely grey skyscrapers cast a looming shadow across the land. A perpetual fog hung ominously in the air around the mountainside city.

Fancy Pants was walking down the cobblestone street towards the new capitol building for the weekly meeting with King Blueblood.

He frowned as he gazed up at the sky. The weather control planes were supposed to clear the fog banks a week ago. He supposed that they were all off at war. Perhaps the unicorn magicians could cast a weather spell, but perhaps they were all off at war, too. He could hardly see his hoof in front of his face. The fog and the humidity choked his lungs, making him feel compressed and claustrophobic even though he was outside.

He passed by a bakery. Lines snaked around the block as ponies waited for their meager rations. The food crisis, they were told, would ease up somewhat once the first harvests were done. Trixie's stallions had taken the unicorn fillies and colts from Ponyville up to the Northern Flatlands, where they were just starting to till the fields and plant the first seeds. Fancy Pants hoped it would be enough—not for his sake, since he was a member of the council and had all the food he could eat—but for the sake of Canterlot and the Second Kingdom. He also hoped that there would be enough weather magicians and airplanes to bring the needed mix of rain and sunshine to the crops. Having unicorn farmers and machinery meant nothing if there was no harvest.

The bakery displayed its prices on the window: three bits for a loaf of bread. Fancy Pants had to stop himself from chuckling. In the early days of the famine, the bakeries had been charging ten bits for bread. Ponies were outraged at the high cost of living and demanded that something be done. At first, Blueblood responded by simply printing more money and distributing it to the poor. Bakeries responded by raising their prices even higher. So, rather than doing the rational thing and allowing free trade with Equestria, Blueblood simply decreed that bakeries, as "stewards of the life blood of the race" may not engage in "highway robbery" and "exploitation of crises." So, he mandated a maximum price that could be charged for food.

This was a suggestion that economic advisors Flim and Flam had made to Blueblood. Fancy Pants had to suppress the urge to groan every time he heard them called "economic advisors," because the title of economic "advisors" suit the Flim Flam brothers as ironically as the name Fancy "Pants" suited himself, or rather, _didn't_suit himself, since not so much as a pair of slacks adorned his flank.

Flim and Flam were gifted engineers, and their machines worked agricultural wonders, but the brothers had little business sense. Rarely, they'd make a reasonable suggestion, like when they suggested allowing in earth pony guest workers to stop the famine, an idea which Blueblood vehemently rejected as "poisonous." But then again, Fancy Pants thought, even a broken clock was right twice a day. Far more often, Flim and Flam would suggest such economically bankrupt ideas as mandating unreasonable price ceilings or floors, or imposing onerous demands on business, or constraining trade with heavy tariffs.

Fancy Pants often wished that _he_ had been Blueblood's economic advisor. He had a successful career as a businessstallion for years, after all. When Blueblood was still a Prince and Canterlot was still part of Equestria, he had come to Fancy Pants to publish a series of instructional magic books as well as an eventual unicorn supremacist tract, the popularity of which played a part in his rise to power. So when Prince Blueblood became king, he only saw fit that his marketer become his propagandist rather than economic advisor. Not that Blueblood would listen to Fancy Pants' contrarian economic advice, anyway. The king was stubborn and arrogant, and the only advisors he listened to were the yes-ponies like Trixie who pandered to his pre-conceived biases.

As Fancy Pants walked, he noticed a giant poster of King Blueblood on the side of one of the buildings. He grimaced. Even though Fancy Pants had approved the propaganda poster himself, he still reeled every time he saw it. It looked so fake, despite Fancy Pants having made every effort to make the specious photograph look legitimate.

In the poster, the King looked as regal as could be: he wore a red robe with a golden crown and levitated a scepter in his magic. He gazed proudly off into the distance at what the poster wanted the viewer to think was the future or a distant star or some nonsense. In reality, it was a hat rack that the photographer had told Blueblood to look at. Due to the gold shortage, Blueblood's crown was a mere prop: a stone that a magician had temporarily transfigured to resemble a golden crown.

Like everything else in the Second Kingdom, the photograph of the king was little more than a deception.

_What a perfect analogy,_ Fancy Pants thought as he trotted around the corner towards the capitol street. He finally reached the capitol building, ascending the staircase to the meeting room.

Fancy Pants was the last to arrive, and they started the meeting as soon as he got in the room.

"Glad you could join us, Fancy Pants," said Blueblood, smiling as he walked in the room. "Now, let's begin the meeting. We will start with the economy, and then we'll move on to the war effort. Do make it quick, though, would you, Flim and Flam?"

"The food shortages continue," Flam started.

"But, with the new unicorn recruits starting their first full season of farming production in the Flatlands, we will hopefully have plenty to eat once more," Flam finished.

"Excellent," said Blueblood. "And with the more territory we capture in the war, we will have more earth-born unicorns and more land on which to farm. Soon we shall be truly be self-sufficient as a nation. That brings us to the war effort."

Blueblood turned to Top Brass. The general spoke, "We've taken Mareicopa, and now we're ready to continue our march west."

"How many casualties?" asked Blueblood.

"A few hundred, though we didn't lose anywhere near as many troops as Equestria lost. Ever since most of the pegasi left to live in the Cloud Confederacy, we've had great battlefield victories. Only a few hiccups here and there, too," said the General, smiling.

Blueblood raised an eyebrow. "Hiccups? What do you mean?"

The general chuckled, "Well, it looks like Equestria is using child soldiers now. Some pegasus colt destroyed two of our bombers over Mareicopa. They must be getting desperate to resort to kids."

Fancy Pants blinked several times as he tried to grasp the nuances of how using children as soldiers was desperate while using them for forced farm labor was not. But then he realized that, of _course_, anything that the Second Kingdom did was noble and pure and anything that Equestria did was greedy and exploitative. No exceptions, logic included.

Top Brass continued, "Most of our stallions are well-trained enough to have no compulsion taking civilian lives, even children, but a few of them had second thoughts about continuing the bombing campaign against Mareicopa because of their 'moral objections.' We had some deserters during our raid of the city."

"And?" asked Blueblood.

"We shot them in the back of the head, in front of all the rest of our troops."

"Good," said Blueblood, smiling. "Strength as a race is our only morality. Weakness in dealing with the inferior races is exactly what let them leech off of us in the first place, before our independence. We must treat them as nothing more than the cows and sheep, because they have no qualms taking _our_ lives and _our_ property when it suits them. Our total war must be entirely total. Any earth ponies or pegasi who resist us in the slightest are to be shot. The rest are to serve _us_ and _our_ interests."

"Yes, your majesty," said General Top Brass.

Fancy Pants had heard the unicorn master race speech dozens of times, and usually it just made him bored. This time, though, it made him nauseous. His stomach churned at the thought that Blueblood was using racial ideology to justify cold-blooded murder of unicorns and non-unicorns alike, and that the generals were going along with it.

"Any further issues?" asked Blueblood.

"Just one more," said General Top Brass. "Though we've taken all of the Everfree River—from the foothills of Canterlot to the west coast—we've had issues taking the Everfree Forest itself. Two months ago, we sent out a small scouting expedition to look for possible Equestrian encampments. The forest would be a good place for Luna or Twilight's forces to camp out and ambush us in an attempt to retake Ponyville.

"Given the forest's danger and the beasts there, we didn't expect to find any ponies hiding there, but we wanted to exercise caution regardless. All was going well until two of my privates and a sergeant showed up screaming about a ghost or something, and—"

"What?" Blueblood demanded, gritting his teeth. "_Ghosts?_ We didn't raise an army of cowards! Our nation is based on scientific principles, and the specters of the Everfree are only legends."

"—May I finish my story?" asked the General, drawing back in his chair.

"I apologize," Blueblood said. "Please, do go on."

"The sergeant who was leading the squad came back, and he had a leg injury. The medics who treated him had never seen anything like it. He had a long, thin twig stuck in his leg. At first, they thought he was stabbed, but there was no entry wound. The medics said that it was like the stick had just appeared there inside his leg. And the stick was too flimsy to have been used to stab somepony like that. Nevertheless, he'll never walk again."

"Sounds like a freak accident. What was the whole fuss about the ghost, then?" asked Blueblood.

"The sergeant and the two privates with him said that a young unicorn mare showed up and claimed to be a ghost. They shot at her, but their bullets just phased right through her body without hitting her."

Nopony said anything for a few seconds.

"I'm at a loss to say what it was that you encountered," said Blueblood. "Phasing magic would explain both the stick and the bullets, but that spell is supposed to be impossible. Even in all those years that I served as dean of Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns, I never witnessed it."

"Maybe she really was a ghost, then," said Flim.

"Or just an illusion or projection," Flam suggested.

"Hmm," said Trixie, narrowing her eyes as she rested her chin on her hoof, staring off into space.

The general shrugged, and continued, "I'm just telling you what my troops saw, and why I've been hesitant to order an incursion into the forest. There might not be ghosts in there, but there's certainly somepony or some_thing_ in there that injured my sergeant, and whatever it is could cause mass casualties. Right now we've just been holding our perimeter around the Everfree River and in Ponyville, since the Forest itself holds little strategic value and we never did find any Equestrian encampments, anyway. None of our riverboats passing through the forest on the Everfree River have reported any—"

"What did she look like?" Trixie asked, cutting him off.

"Hmm?" asked the sergeant. Blueblood raised an eyebrow.

"The young mare who scared off your troops. What did she look like?" Trixie repeated.

"Oh, her? The troops said that she had a bright orange mane."

Trixie's eyes widened, and then she slowly grinned.

"I know exactly who she is."

* * *

Out at sea, West of Equestria, May 2024

General Soarin sat in his office aboard the _HMS Celestia_, a pegasus carrier stationed off the coast of Vanhoover. The _Celestia_ was a ship designed to house pegasi at sea, where they would then take to the air and strike at other seagoing vessels.

The Second Kingdom was land-locked with the exception of the Everfree River which they had recently captured. But their Zebra Empire allies did in fact have combat vessels. Ever since the war resumed, they had been threatening settlements all along the west coast of Equestria.

General Soarin was busily examining reports on his desk when his door slammed open.

"General Soarin, Sir!"

He glanced up from his desk. "What is it, officer?"

"A zebra destroyer has just been spotted two miles west of our position, sir! They have their missile systems deployed on deck and aimed towards Vanhoover!"

General Soarin got up from his desk, retrieved his hat, and walked out the door.

"All hooves on deck! Battle stations! All pegasi units, prepare to board the enemy ship and take out those missiles!" he commanded.

Soarin scrambled up the steps until he was above deck, and then took to the sky to observe the imminent battle.

The Zebra Empire had precious few planes on loan from the Second Kingdom, and they were mostly used in battles with the zebras' ongoing war with the winged Griffons, so the Equestrians, short on pegasi as they were, still had air superiority.

General Soarin, though confident in his forces' abilities, couldn't help but feeling the slightest bit apprehensive. This would be the first direct engagement between zebras and ponies. Their ships had fired at each other before, but the two armies had never met eye to eye, pony against zebra.

He had a question nagging the back of his mind. Why had Blueblood decided to ally with the tribal, hornless zebras? Weren't they basically earth ponies, but with stripes? Sure they had access to alchemy and potion-making, but it hardly fit the definition of "magical."

The pegasi forces got above deck and took off from the carrier and into the air. General Soarin hovered at the rear behind his troops, careful to keep a safe distance from the battle while staying close enough to shout orders.

In a few minutes, the pegasi had reached the zebra destroyer. A few zebras stood on deck, holding rifles in their hooves. The ship had five missile launchers on it: one larger, main one on the bow, and two each on the port and starboard sides.

One of the missiles fired from the ship, flying through the air towards the _Celestia_. It missed, landing harmlessly in the water below. The _Celestia_ would have returned fire, but it wasn't close enough. It didn't have enough missiles to last in a protracted battle with a destroyer anyway; its primary function was to transport pegasi.

The pegasi on the front lines charged forward, down at the ship. Some of them, who were carrying bombs, dropped them as close to the missile launchers as they could. They took out one of the missile launchers on the port side.

Soarin grinned. This battle would be over before it even began. Blueblood had picked himself some weak allies.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed some of the zebras on deck drinking blue liquid from vials.

_What do those potions do?_ he wondered.

A small group of five pegasi landed on the deck of the destroyer, aiming their weapons towards the zebras. However, before they could do so, they fell to the ground, the zebras shooting them in the head.

Six of the pegasi who were flying towards the ship fell as they were shot.

_Some marksmen,_ Soarin thought. But then he realized that the zebras must've taken some form of potion to enhance their combat abilities. That was how they had been able to shoot the pegasi from so far away.

The pegasi returned fire from the air, hitting several of the zebras. However, in a few moments, Soarin noticed that zebras dressed in white, presumably medics, arrived and poured red liquid over the wounds of their injured comrades who hadn't yet died. The injured zebras' wounds closed within minutes, and they then instantly returned to their hooves and resumed fighting.

"Go for headshots!" Soarin commanded.

Another missile from the zebra destroyer flew past the pegasi and hit the _Celestia._ It was a direct hit, and a fireball exploded in the hull.

Back on the ship, ponies below deck frantically bailed water and evacuated to the upper decks as the helmsstallion frantically tried to steer the massive carrier out of harm's way.

The fighting on the zebra destroyer continued for a few more minutes, but then another missile hit the carrier. The lower decks filled with water as the ship slowly started sinking.

"Retreat!" called Soarin. He and his forces zipped back to the ship, grabbed their supplies, and headed for land. Thankfully, the coastline was only a few kilometers away.

Soarin and the stallions from the carrier arrived back at the naval base in the Vanhoover harbor. Off on the horizon, they could see that the zebra destroyer was merely one ship in a fleet, and had been joined by a half dozen other ships.

Several of the ships in the Vanhoover harbor floated over to combat the Zebra destroyers. The destroyers, however, fired their missiles directly towards the city of Vanhoover, hitting skyscrapers and other buildings, both military and civilian. Like their Second Kingdom allies, the Zebra Empire forces had no conception of civilian versus military targets: they were engaged in total war.

Over the next hour, the Equestrian destroyers managed to defeat the zebra ships, but not without sustaining heavy losses.

* * *

General Spitfire and Princess Twilight Sparkle sat inside of a conference room in Manehatten.

"So what's the status report on the war, General Spitfire?"

Spitfire sighed as she grabbed an updated map of Equestria.

"Not good. General Soarin and Princess Luna have both reported that they're losing ground in their respective theaters. Ever since Las Pegasus seceded, Mareicopa was our last line of defense on the Everfree River between Ponyville and the west coast, but they overran our forces there earlier this week. Blueblood's forces in the south of Equestria have entirely taken the Everfree River, giving the Second Kingdom access to the west coast of Equestria for the first time. They're now no longer landlocked."

"How did this happen?" asked Twilight Sparkle, her jaw agape.

"We underestimated their air capabilities. In the two years since the ceasefire, they've developed new models of warplanes and bombers. They've started upgrading their air force from the old, wooden biplanes to newer aluminum monoplanes with reinforced cockpits. Our pegasi, though more maneuverable, are a lot easier to take down than their new planes. We fought long and hard, but ultimately their bombers overran the city, indiscriminately dropping bombs and destroying everything. Civilian casualties are estimated in the thousands."

"What about their ground forces?" asked Twilight Sparkle, still in disbelief.

Spitfire sighed. "Though we took out their standard magic force-fields rather easily, the desert sand gave them an advantage that we hadn't seen before: they can telekinetically manipulate the sand to form makeshift barriers to stop our tank missiles. From behind their sand shield, they can still fire at us easily by poking holes in it, but it's almost impossible for us to take _them_ out without moving earth ponies in to buck the sand, putting them at risk."

"And what about the west coast?" asked Twilight.

Spitfire pointed back at the map. "We're losing control of our coastline to the Zebra Empire. They've bombed Vanhoover, and have landed ground forces there. Their ground forces are almost impossible to take out. The have some sort of potion they take to enhance their speed and reflexes. It gives them the speed of cheetahs, the eyes of hawks. They can snipe our soldiers from long distances, and can run twice as fast as a normal pony. Even when we do hit one of them, they can just take a healing potion and be back to fighting strength within minutes. Vanhoover is under siege, and we fear that they may go after Tall Tale as well."

"You do know what this means, right?" Twilight asked.

"Yes," said Spitfire. "The Second Kingdom and the Zebra Empire are going to divide Equestria in half. From the northern Flatlands down to Ponyville, then along the course of the Everfree river, then up and down the west coast. They're tightening the noose, wrapping around us like an anaconda."

Twilight sighed, burying her face in her hooves. If Spitfire didn't know better, she would have thought that the princess was crying.

"I just can't believe it. Cloudsdale secedes, Las Pegasus secedes, and they take away over half of our air force. All for a war crime that we didn't even actually commit. And now the unicorns overrun the Everfree River, the zebra empire overruns our west coast, and we're going to lose the entire western half of Equestria."

Spitfire just stood there silently. Twilight lifted her head, her eyes shaking in her sockets.

"I should never have let them vote for independence!" Twilight yelled, slamming her hoof onto the table. "I tried to be diplomatic; I tried to not just make decrees and rule by fiat. But it looks like that's the only way to rule a kingdom and keep harmony and friendship intact. I should have bombed those unicorn children at the barn when I had the chance! I would have saved thousands of lives. I took the weak way out, but only strength can win this war."

Spitfire blinked, as Twilight grinned. "Thankfully, it's not too late to do what we should have done many months ago. General Spitfire, how do you kill an anaconda?"

"Um…" Spitfire started.

"You cut off its head," said Twilight Sparkle, brow furrowed as she pointed towards the northern Flatlands.


End file.
